Jakarta, 12 November2012 – WeChat, a social communications services available for smartphones, has been received with a great deal of enthusiasm by mobile users in Indonesia since its initial launch several weeks ago. The application itself has already gained more than 200 million registered user accounts worldwide, thanks to WeChat’s innovative product features that include ‘Look Around’, ‘Shake to Find Friends’, and ‘Hold to Talk’ among many. These are the features unique to WeChat and are not found in other applications.
One of the most prominent features that attracts Indonesian users is ‘Hold to Talk’. Similar to a walkie-talkie, ‘Hold to Talk’ is a unique new voice messaging feature which enables users to send voice messages at the touch of a button. This feature can serve as a great alternative for voice calling since it is free to use and does not count towards the user’s calling credit usage. “Since users nowadays prefer less texting and more interaction to avoid the trouble of typing many characters, this feature is the best way to fulfill that needs,” Dennis Hau, Head of International Product Center, Tencent International Business Group expressed. “With Hold-to-talk, users can avoid tediousness and hassle of typing for daily communications, all free of additional credit charges.”
According to a recent survey conducted by WeChat developers, the new ways of interaction introduced by WeChat gradually shift the behavior of mobile phone users in communicating with their friends, relatives and colleagues. With the arrival of WeChat, people gradually leave the conventional way of text messaging, which grow more monotonous, and start experimenting with voice messages, sharing files and location-based services. Unfortunately, video chatting, due to bandwidth and device limitations in Indonesia, is still rarely used, but people have so far shown a great interest in using more of this feature in the future .There is also other external factors such as promotions and price reductions of mobile Internet services by telecommunications operators in Indonesia. All this contributes to the shift in messenger service users’ behavior.
Besides variations in sending messages, location-based services are also very popular. WeChat users can find new friends and acquaintances by using ‘Look Around’ feature. Before the official launch, there are only few people in the surrounding area using WeChat, but now user can find other Indonesian people easily as seen in the picture. Lots of the users also find the ‘Shake to Find Friends’ feature fun to use. These LBS features has been used daily by Indonesian WeChat users..
Recently, to improve the functionality and user experience, the developer also further enhanced the features of WeChat Application for the Nokia Windows Phone and iOS. “WeChat for Nokia Lumia 900, Lumia 800, Lumia 710 and Lumia 610, has just been updated to version 3.2 with a wide array of new features,” Dennis Hau continued.”One feature we would like to highlight is the new Web WeChat function, with which we can chat from our PC through the browser.”
WeChat is a free mobile voice and text messaging application that allows the users to send free text, voice messages, emoticons, picture, video and other files. Users can also do video-chat, add new friends through its social features, utilize location-based services, and share their stories through the unique ‘Moments’ feature in the form of photos, video and URL links.WeChat application is available for iOS, Android OS, Symbian, and Windows Phone users. For more information and application download, please visit: www.wechatapp.com.
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