Ted Livingston didnt set out to build an instant messaging app. Like something from a John Lennon song, it happened while he was busy making other plans.

When he began Kik Interactive in 2009, his first idea wasnt instant messaging, but music. His company spent its first year building an application for finding and sharing music using a smartphone. Originally, the app was to be integrated with Research In Motion Inc.s BlackBerry Messenger and be designed just for the BlackBerry.

Mr. Livingston had an early introduction to the smartphone industry thanks to three terms as a co-op student at RIM while he was an engineering and mechatronics student at the University of Waterloo. Seeing that the technology focus was moving from the desktop computer to mobile devices, he started thinking about what desktop activity he could move to the smartphone.

This is where events started taking Kik in a different direction. First, Apple Inc.s iPhone and phones based on Google Inc.s Android operating system began gaining popularity. Kik realized that its application needed to work on those platforms, too. So the company built its own cross-platform technology.

Having done that, Kik was still waiting to settle licensing issues that would allow it to offer music sharing. But the technology it had developed could also be used for messaging company employees were already doing that internally so in October of 2010 Kik launched a cross-platform messaging tool, Kik Messenger.

It was totally reactionary, Mr. Livingston says of the series of moves that led to his company becoming an innovator in messaging. But they were good reactions.

Of course any phone can send text messages. What Kik Messenger adds to that is speed, the ability to see when your messages are received and read, and when someone is typing a reply. It also gives a view of the whole exchange rather than just individual messages, and the ability to send pictures and other content. And because Kik Messenger doesnt use the Short Message Service (SMS) infrastructure that ordinary text messages rely on, there is no per-message charge.

Apps from other developers build on Kik Messenger, allowing users to share video clips, music and drawings, inform each other of their locations and so on.

BlackBerry users have long been able to exchange messages instantly using BlackBerry Messenger, but only with other BlackBerry users. Kik Messenger works with iPhones, Android, Windows Mobile, Nokia Inc.s Symbian and all phones based on the Java programming language (which includes BlackBerries).

It hasnt all been smooth sailing, though. Late in 2010, RIM filed a lawsuit against Kik, alleging it infringed RIM patents and misused trademarks. Thanks to this still-unresolved dispute, Kiks app is not available from the BlackBerry App World online store. The Java version that supports BlackBerries is available through Kiks website, though.

Visit link:
Success happens when you’re making other plans, entrepreneur finds