Hike messaging app or Hike Sticker Chat has been shelved citing inability to compete with foreign messaging apps. The free cross-platform instant messaging application was launched in 2012 and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal announced earlier this month that they will be drawing the curtains soon. In a tweet made on 6 January, Mittal said: “Today we’re announcing that we will be sunsetting StickerChat in Jan’21. We thank you all for giving us your trust. We wouldn’t be here without you”. He added that the firm was being reimagined as ‘Vibe and Rush’ which will have Hike’s special emojis and its name: Vibe by Hike.
2/ First off → HikeLand.
Last month I spoke about 30K new friendships are being formed every month on HikeLand.
In 2021, we're going to double down. However in a new avatar.https://t.co/iaJkLEG5M2
— Kavin Bharti Mittal (@kavinbm) January 6, 2021
While Vibe will be an “approval-only community”, Rush is going to be a “bite-sized gaming service”. It is to be noted here that Vibe by Hike was previously known as HikeLand.
A few days later, Mittal declared that “India won’t have its own messenger”. His comments come while the entire country was erupting over the new privacy policy of WhatsApp, a messaging app used by the majority of Indians. After the news of its privacy policy spread, people have been urging everyone to shift to other apps like Telegram and Signal. This backlash ultimately led WhatsApp to delay their new policy by three months.
Mittal also wrote that global companies like Telegram and Signal were too strong and unless India bans foreign firms, it is difficult for homegrown apps like Hike to make an impact. He opined that both Signal and Telegram were better than Facebook-owned companies (WhatsApp) as entities.
India won’t have its own messenger.
Global network effects are too strong (unless India bans Western companies)@telegram UX, Groups better than @signalapp
Both are very good. As entities they have the right incentives (more aligned with consumers) unlike FB products.
— Kavin Bharti Mittal (@kavinbm) January 10, 2021
Now the app Hike Sticker Chat is no longer available to download from both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. While no clarity has been given behind the closing down of the app, users of Hike Messenger can get their conversations and data downloaded from within the app itself.
source https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/hike-messaging-app-pulled-down-from-google-play-store-and-apple-app-store-9213621.html
