According to this and this article, Vodafone and other international telecommunication operators will be launching a new instant messaging platform called “Joyn” at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona this month. This is to stem their revenue loss from free messaging applications such as Blackberry Messenger (BBM), WhatsApp and MXit.
UK-based Research Organization, Ovum, reported that last year alone, telecommunication operators lost a whopping $13.9 billion in SMS revenue to social networks and free web-based applications.
I am not 100% sure how the telecommunication operators will monetize the new platform, as users have been moving away from SMS’es, and SMS packages have always been a big money maker for the operators. I personally use BBM and WhatsApp quite regularly during my day, so I can not see myself stopping using these apps very soon, as they cost me almost no money and work very reliably.
We will have to see what is announced by the operators at the Mobile World Congress 2012, held from 27 February to 1 March 2012.
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