South African mobile social network Mxit has released Mxit 7 for feature phones and will add versions for iPhone and iPad later in the week. The launch forms part of a phased rollout which will see Mxit 7 available on Android and BlackBerry devices in the coming weeks, and Windows Phone early next year.
Following the rollout, Mxit 7 will run on more than 8 000 devices, including tablets, and embraces the capabilities of each platform to offer an immersive chat experience that feels native to each one.
Feature phone users on Nokia Asha devices will now get messages even when they are offline and everyone will enjoy a more engaging chat experience, Mxit says. The new chat tab feature allows users to switch easily and quickly between multiple ongoing conversations with friends and groups.
Mxit 7 for iOS has been rebuilt from the ground up for iOS 7 and features such as Doodlechat and Backdrop make for a fun and immersive chat experience. Mxit 7 for iPhone and iPad will be available in the App Store on 15 November.
“Our users love to chat, so we improved the chat experience across all versions of Mxit,” says Vincent Maher, chief product officer at Mxit. “We’re also building on the things that made Mxit great in the first place – the fact that we can reliably deliver half a billion messages every day – and extending that with new features like group chat.”
Maher says that key features for J2ME (feature phone) users include:
* Groups – easily create groups, chat with multiple friends and share photos and sound clips;
* Chat tabs – quickly switch across multiple group and private chats;
* Richer profiles – profiles on feature phones look better than ever with larger cover images and extended profile information;
* Offline messages – feature phones that support push notifications will now receive offline chat messages;
* Automatic upgrades – users will be informed when new versions of Mxit become available, bringing this traditional smartphone feature to lower-end phones; and
* Data light – Mxit 7 uses even less data and is lighter on memory usage than previous versions.
For iPhone and iPad users:
* New for iOS 7 – Mxit for iOS 7 has a crisp and simple new look and is one of the only chat apps native Apple’s newest operating system;
* Backdrop – drop photos from your Photo Stream into the background of any chat window;
* Doodlechat – draw picture doodles on the screen or on photos and share them in chats with friends and groups. Friends can add their own doodles to the picture; and
* Voicechat – quickly and easily record and send audio voice clips and messages in chat.
“Mxit 7 is the result of our renewed focus on offering an affordable and rich chat experience that bridges the gap between feature and smartphone users,” says Francois Swart, CEO of Mxit. “This is a significant rollout for us, but it is only the beginning – there is plenty of innovation to come.”