Made in India mobile messenger: Hike is now #1 free application on Android Playstore, iOS Appstore and Windows platform across India.
As of now, there are more 20 million users of this app, and as per a blog on their website, they have revealed that right now more than 300,000 downloads are taking place every 24 hours.
As of April, 2014, WhatsApp had 48 million users in India.
By topping the charts within such a short period, Hike has overtaken popular applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook which have been ruling the charts for past few months.
Hike has been created in India by Bharti Softbank, and has recently received funding of $14 million. Launched in December 2012, Hike quickly topped the Android platform as it registered 5 million users by April, 2013. During that time, it received it’s first funding of $7 million and in February 2014, when it reached 15 million users, it received it’s second funding of $14 million.
There are several unique features in Hike, which is attracting a large userbase from India such as:
- Sharing of files upto 100 MB
- Smartphone to feature phone messaging option
- Offline usage
- Support of different Indian languages
- Hiding “Last seen” data
- Password protected messages etc
In the last couple of months, Hike has unleashed a series of TV commercials and FM ads luring youngsters into their platform. They have even created an advertisement poking fun at WhatsApp (calls it WhatsCRAP), which is the industry leader in this segment right now.
Interestingly, 90% of the users of this messenger are based in India, and 80% are under 25 years of age. With these demographic details, it can be challenge monetizing the application. The next 6 months would be really crucial for Hike as its main challenges would be to increase the number of users, and introduce monetization methods which are sustainable, without hampering user experience.
On the other hand, it’s main competitor WhatsApp has a war chest with Facebook behind it. WhatsApp has promised that they will never introduce advertising in their messaging client. How Hike monetizes it’s user will be interesting to see!
Are you using Hike? How is your experience with it? Do share your opinions by commenting right here!