Samsung today announced that 100 million smartphone users are now also using its ChatON messaging app. The app had hit 50 million users just this past May after having launched in 2011. The news comes as mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat have become hits in the mobile app space. Even BlackBerry Messenger saw a multitude of downloads when it recently launched for Android devices.
Samsung is attributing the significant and rapid growth of ChatON to the app’s availability internationally and on various platforms, including iOS and PC. The reality, though, is much simpler.
The ChatON app is not popular in Apple’s App Store or on the PC. Samsung admits that much of the app’s success is due to it being the default messaging app that comes pre-loaded on its latest Galaxy-branded devices. The Galaxy S III, launched just over one year ago, was the first Samsung device to come with ChatON preinstalled. Following that the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S 4, and the Galaxy Camera all came with the app. The new Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear smart watch will also have ChatON messaging.
As Samsung points to ChatON growth in markets such as the U.S., China, and India it is, in reality, pointing to the growth in Galaxy device sales in those same markets. Even so, ChatON is one of the most diverse messaging apps currently available, with 63 different languages supported and a variety of region-specific features.