Samsung launches IM service, ChatOn

With apps such as WhatsApp and RIM’s own BBM service, text messages are probably starting to see a drop in usage, at least among smartphone users. After all, the ability to send multiple messages to friends or family anywhere in the world for pretty much zero cost (except for data usage) is a no-brainer option. With iOS 5 coming with iMessage which is equivalent to RIM’s BBM, Samsung will be launching their own service called ChatOn.

At the moment it appears limited to just Samsung phones running on both Android and Bada, but Samsung has plans to release it for iOS and BB devices with an accompanying PC client as well. This new service is expected to be unveiled at IFA. Given that WhatsApp and BBM having been holding up pretty well on their own, we’ll have to wonder if there will be many people making the jump to ChatOn, since on the basic level it does what BBM and WhatsApp already do.