Move over BBM and MXit, ZiNG is here
This weekend (11-12 February 2012) saw the launch of ZiNG, a free chat application that runs on both smartphones and feature phones.
ZiNG was developed by BlazingChilli, a mobile technology company incorporated in Mauritius, but staffed by a number of South Africans headed up by local entrepreneur Jason Perthel.
The service has all the basics one would expect from a mobile messaging application, such as text chat, the ability to send pictures, group chat and emoticons.
It also claims to show an indicator when someone else is typing, as well as message delivery status and read receipts.
ZiNG further lets users send their location to one another from supported devices.
One features that really sets ZiNG apart, however, is its rewards system that gives users points for clicking on advertisements. In South Africa, these points can then be redeemed for airtime on any of the five mobile networks, usually at an exchange rate of R5 per 5,500 points.
ZiNG
Users sign up for ZiNG in much the same way as they would for WhatsApp: with their cellphone numbers. This eases discovery of your existing contacts on ZiNG since you can find them by the number you already know.
Similar to MXit, ZiNG has information channels it calls “zones.” At launch this included news from AFP, and content from Starfish Mobile such as horoscopes and quotes or messages of the day.
ZiNG is available in Australia, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It has a basic Java (J2ME) version, advanced Java (J2ME) version, and applications for BlackBerry, iOS, and Android.
Though available in the Android and iOS app stores, it isn’t available in the United States App Store preferred by many South African iPhone users.
Users interested in the application can go to http://zing.im and request a link be sent to their phones, or navigate to the website from their devices.
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