India’s Hike messenger is coming up with a new Operating System of its own which will allow users to avail services without internet.
The mobile operating system will offer services such as messaging and recharging without using data, targeting the lower end of smartphone users to better take on leader WhatsApp.
Services offered on the system called Hike Total include financial transactions via Hike Wallet, news, horoscopes and rail information. The operating system will be pre-installed in entry-level smartphones from Intex and Karbonn priced between 3,500 and 5,000.
Founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, the Hike Messenger app, which has over 100 million users since launch in December 2012 – less than WhatsApp’s 200 million subscribers in India – will continue as a separate app that uses data.
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Unlike WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, the micro-apps on Hike Total will work even without data.
Hike Total uses USSD (unstructured supplementary service data), a technology that transmits information through GSM network channels, which are normally used to make voice calls and send messages.
The objective was to get more users on the Hike platform, Kavin Mittal, founder of Hike, told ET. “We decided to invert the pyramid and go bottom-upwards because there are still around 200 million users of the total 400 million smartphone users who have smartphones but do not use data… we have to break into that market,” he said.
Intex will integrate Hike’s services in lower-priced smartphone models for the benefit of consumers, who will also get customised and differential data packs at cheaper rates, said director Keshav Bansal.
Hike is in talks with Lava and Micromax, besides Samsung and Chinese companies. On the carrier side, it has tied up with Bharti Airtel, Aircel, and BSNL. Reliance Jio Infocomm users will have to wait a while because the company’s Voice over LTE network does not support USSD service.
Hike Total’s services work on its new patented technology called UTTP, a version of USSD, which is often used to check a phone’s serial number or data usage. Hike will give Rs 200 to each user on the purchase of the phones, which will be available beginning March 1.