MXit, a find of 2006

Well what can I say...it's a great app and these guys knew it was gonna be a hit in SA. I have a phone with IM, but at nearly a Rand a message you can guess who I'm using at the moment...
 
Hopefully this will put a stop to the insane profits made by cellular operators on SMSs.

http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2007/0701031049.asp?A=MSG&S=Messaging&O=FPIN

"Record SMS and MMS figures for all local mobile operators show thumb happy South Africans splurged on communication over the festive season, with some 1.55 billion SMSes and 10.1 million MMSes sent during the festive season.

Arthur Goldstuck, MD of research house World Wide Worx, says SMS is the most expensive form of communication per word. “SMS has low priority over voice calls, and, as a result, is low-cost and high-profit margin for mobile operators.”
 
Just as a matter of interest: 1.55Billion ~ 1,550,000,000 X average 75c an SMS = R116,250,000,000. Plus MMS (10.1Million ~ 10,100,000 X average R2,00 an MMS = R20,200,000) R20,200,000 + R116,250,000,000 = R116,270,200,000. *shock*
 
MXit is great because it is making South Africa aware of the benefits of instant messaging. However, MXit has to remain open on the phone and is is therefore a conversation and not a messaging service.
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The advantage of an IM application like Nokia’s is that it can run in the background. This means you can receive messages when you are not looking at your phone like with SMS. If this service were offered it would revolutionise messaging and substantially cut communications costs.
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I don't agree with this. I can leave Mxit open on my phone. I could do it on my K750i and I can do it now on my Nokia E61.

BTW. MXit works great on the E61!

EDIT. Wait I am not making any sense....

What I am trying to say is that I can run mxit in the background and carry on using my phone as normal.
 
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Same here on my motorola V360...Suspend function.

Although the "Run In Background" command crashes it.
 
terencevs said:
What I am trying to say is that I can run mxit in the background and carry on using my phone as normal.
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I think what they mean in the article is that you need to keep an eye on mxit to see the new messages (I could be wrong as I have never used it), whereas a SMS lets you know it is there?
 
i've got an old motorola v620.. mxit works brilliantly... it suspends when getting phonecalls and messages...

used to use an IM on my phone, but settings got messed up... mxit is portable, can be used on pc using mpowerplayer or any java app player....

The only problem is that the backlight stays on when mxit runnning, hence battery life sucks, and have to charge every night...
Maybe they should put a timeout for the backlight and screen in the next version of mxit...???
 
Agreed about the backlight thing...on Samsungs and Nokias the light goes off though. Think it's a niggle with Motorolas.
 
it runs well on my n90, background and all.
 
The nice little things of having a awesome phone:)
 
works brilliantly on 9300i, full qwerty ftw, can also minamize etc.

hardly ever sms anymore, everyone is always on mxit!
 
Not to mention that mxit doesn't use much data to send and receive. Although everytime I go above 40,000 bytes it reconnects for some reason
 
Well what all this actually brings to mind is one huge slap from me to telkom and cellular companies alike :)

The product of today is marketed, produced and sold based on the customers wants and needs. Customer is King and every good but seldom product/service launch has realized this.

Gone are the days of product/service oriented marketing. In places like America it is purely customer/consumer oriented, thus their economy is far superior to ours.

Therefore to end this annoying little essay I say in short, Telkom---IS---STUPID :) same applies to Vodacom, MTN, Cell-C and Virgin M (I haven't been entirely satisfied with Virgin Mobile so far)

Obviously Mxit has realized a huge need in SA....cheap and convenient communications. Oh and looky here!!! it charges something stupid like 2cents a message and yet they are still very successful. And that two cents doesnt even go to the Mxit group.

-------------------

Oh and @ wabbit16.....I had the same thing with Virgin Mobile. My airtime would be absolutely nothing but Internet would still work until I hit around 40-50kb. Then I would reconnect and thereafter same thing :) free Mxit for everyone lol
 
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And they rely on their users to spread the word...have you ever seen a Mxit ad before?
 
Jonny Two Shoes said:
Obviously Mxit has realized a huge need in SA....cheap and convenient communications. Oh and looky here!!! they charge something stupid like 2cents a message and yet they are still very successful.
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It would be a different story if MXit had to provide the full IM product from start to finish, including the handsets, customer care, prepaid recharge systems, coverage, backhaul transmission.

They would never be able to charge 2 cents a message if they did not ride on the backs of the cellular operators.

But kudos to them for exploiting the sytem...
 
Google Talk link with Mxit has been down for the past 6 days. People arent happy. Everything points to a Mxit stuff up.
 
yup... google to mxit link being down annoys me..
but people blame mxit cos google fixes issues in a hour, even on new years...
 
Jonny Two Shoes said:
I had the same thing with Virgin Mobile. My airtime would be absolutely nothing but Internet would still work until I hit around 40-50kb. Then I would reconnect and thereafter same thing :) free Mxit for everyone lol
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Not only Virgin. I was on vodafone live! and switched, both networks do the same. Maar nou ja thats life is South Africa.
 
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