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February 10, 2014 11:41 pm GMT
A team with extensive experience working with the OEMs, carriers, and platform makers in the mobile industry, and who was most recently tasked with the creation of the Facebook mobile experience for feature phones, is now preparing to take its former client head-on with a new, multi-platform social messaging app called Chaatz. Like Facebook, Chaatz will also target both developed and emerging markets, but aims to differentiate itself from the social networking giant with features that allow for more privacy, separate profiles for work and play, and a virtual phone number, similar to something like Google Voice. The smartphone version of Chaatz,the first of many iterations of the app, arrives first on iOS with an Android launch planned for a week or so from now. Chaatz was founded by Richard Cheung (CEO),Michael Wong (CTO), andArnie Chaudhuri (Biz Dev), and includes a 20-plus person team in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Their location, combined with the team’s experience in the mobile industry, is what they hope will give them the advantage in a crowded mobile messaging landscape. In addition to Facebook for feature phones, the team has previously helped build app stores for Nokia, LG and Samsung, for example, and claim to have a deep understanding of everything mobile from the manufacturers and carriers to the chipsets and the platforms. ExplainsChaudhuri, they realized there was the potential for something like Chaatz to take off after the launch of Facebook for feature phones, which the team, then as another company, built in conjunction with Facebook.Facebook’s app did well in these emerging markets, prompting the group to think that there was a gap that could be filled. “Maybe we are the guys who understand platforms so well, and chipsets so well, and the market so well – maybe we are the guys who should be filling up that gap?,”Chaudhuri says the team wondered. With Chaatz, the company wants to reach consumers worldwide, “regardless of where they live in the world or whether they have a smartphone or not,” he adds. Though the smartphone application is out now, the company’s larger focus is on the under-served feature phone market which they plan to reach via deals with OEMs and carriers. Already, they’ve sealed feature phone partnerships withIntex Mobile and Rage, and a global partnership withTCL Alcatel. Other deals are in discussions now too, with a carrier in Indonesia, and two other manufacturers in
Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gGsm0PZt0FU/
Team Behind Facebook For Feature Phones Launches Chaatz, A Mobile Messaging App Aimed At Emerging Markets
A team with extensive experience working with the OEMs, carriers, and platform makers in the mobile industry, and who was most recently tasked with the creation of the Facebook mobile experience for feature phones, is now preparing to take its former client head-on with a new, multi-platform social messaging app called Chaatz. Like Facebook, Chaatz will also target both developed and emerging markets, but aims to differentiate itself from the social networking giant with features that allow for more privacy, separate profiles for work and play, and a virtual phone number, similar to something like Google Voice. The smartphone version of Chaatz,the first of many iterations of the app, arrives first on iOS with an Android launch planned for a week or so from now. Chaatz was founded by Richard Cheung (CEO),Michael Wong (CTO), andArnie Chaudhuri (Biz Dev), and includes a 20-plus person team in both Hong Kong and Singapore. Their location, combined with the team’s experience in the mobile industry, is what they hope will give them the advantage in a crowded mobile messaging landscape. In addition to Facebook for feature phones, the team has previously helped build app stores for Nokia, LG and Samsung, for example, and claim to have a deep understanding of everything mobile from the manufacturers and carriers to the chipsets and the platforms. ExplainsChaudhuri, they realized there was the potential for something like Chaatz to take off after the launch of Facebook for feature phones, which the team, then as another company, built in conjunction with Facebook.Facebook’s app did well in these emerging markets, prompting the group to think that there was a gap that could be filled. “Maybe we are the guys who understand platforms so well, and chipsets so well, and the market so well – maybe we are the guys who should be filling up that gap?,”Chaudhuri says the team wondered. With Chaatz, the company wants to reach consumers worldwide, “regardless of where they live in the world or whether they have a smartphone or not,” he adds. Though the smartphone application is out now, the company’s larger focus is on the under-served feature phone market which they plan to reach via deals with OEMs and carriers. Already, they’ve sealed feature phone partnerships withIntex Mobile and Rage, and a global partnership withTCL Alcatel. Other deals are in discussions now too, with a carrier in Indonesia, and two other manufacturers inOriginal Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gGsm0PZt0FU/
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