Samsung plans to quietly kill its instant messaging service, ChatOn, designed to take on the likes of WhatsApp.
The change will go into effect Feb. 1, everywhere except in the U.S., where it will be killed off at an unspecified date afterward. The delay is due to unspecified obligations with mobile carriers.
The service is being ended, according to Samsung, so the company can focus on other services in "health, mobile commerce and other platforms." Another reason is the fast-paced rate of change in the market environment.
The service was first launched in August 2011, only a few months after other services such as Viber, WeChat and Line first started becoming popular. ChatOn came preinstalled on all Samsung smartphones that were powered by Android. At this time, the company was fast becoming the dominant manufacturer of smartphones.
ChatOn came with a number of features that weren't available in other chat services. For example, the app allowed users to remove what were called "regrettable" messages, as well as an in-app translator for those messaging across multiple languages. In fact, it was available in a total of 67 languages, including Slovak and Malay, and across a whopping 237 countries. According to Samsung, there were 200 million users of ChatOn, and the company claimed that it was the most popular mobile messenger application in both the U.S. and in France.
Perhaps those statistics were a little blown out of proportion, however. The company counted users who had the app installed on their device, although it is more than likely that most users who had the service installed rarely, if ever, used it.
"There were too many features, and they were talking a lot about all the features that ChatOn could do, versus explaining the value proposition to users," said Jefferson Wang, a consultant for wireless and mobility at IBB Consulting Group, based in Philadelphia.
The ending of support for the app highlights a more serious problem for the company. While millions of people love the hardware that Samsung offers, the software is a little bit of a different story. Most of Samsung's services that come preinstalled are seen largely as bloatware. Not only that, but the Samsung TouchWiz, which is the company's overlay on Android, is regarded by many as ugly and more difficult to use than stock Android.
"Samsung's failure in messaging apps is endemic of a broader struggle for the company in software and services," said Rajeev Chand, managing director at Rutberg & Co., an investment bank focusing on the mobile industry. "If they don't succeed in apps and software, Samsung has a very large risk of being relegated to an increasingly shrinking-margin company."
