Recently it came to my attention that Snapchat has introduced the My AI feature, a new pen-friend ready to respond to all sorts of texts and expressions. Using it I felt something familiar, so much so it felt like deja vu. Suddenly a random name came into my mind Natasha!
The market has a new fish
Let me walk you through a glimpse of 2016: I first dipped my toes into the world of social media, and the first app I signed into was the Hike Messenger. I was instantly greeted with so many of its features!
Hike, an Indian app, is primarily an innovative messaging platform for conversing with amazing stickers that entered the market to revolutionize texting. Kavin Bharti Mittal established Hike in 2012, which was the first messaging and social technology business to be created in India.
- Two-way option: This option on Hike enables the users to add or accept contacts before messaging and also the application has security measures that allow the users to prevent messages from strangers.
- Offline messages: The users can receive message notifications even when the mobile data is disabled.
- Free SMS: Hike messenger allows its users to send free SMS to any given number.
- Theme-based interface: The whole idea of Hike is having conversations using some interesting graphic mediums like reaction stickers etc.
Features
The following are some of the most important features of Hike Messenger that were way ahead of its time:
1. Stickers: Hike had a vast collection of stickers and emojis that users could use to express themselves in chats and conversations. It included regional stickers and custom-made stickers for various occasions catering to a diverse user base in India offering a wide range of stickers that reflected local cultures and languages.
2. Hidden Mode: Hike offered a hidden mode that allowed users to hide specific chats and conversations behind a password or pattern lock. This feature provided an extra layer of privacy to users. This feature was so good, you could only reveal the hidden chats by clicking on the hike logo present on the top left corner of the app.
3. Hike Wallet: Wanted to make payments while chatting? The Hike Wallet allowed users to send and receive money to and from their contacts. It facilitated peer-to-peer transactions, mobile recharges, and bill payments.
4. Hike News: When we really though social media only caused distraction Hike proved us wrong! Hike provided a news aggregation service within the app that delivered the latest news and updates on various topics, including current affairs, sports, entertainment, and more!
5. Hike ID: Each Hike user had a unique Hike ID, which allowed them to be easily identified and added to contacts without sharing phone numbers.
6. Timeline: The app featured a timeline where users could post status updates, photos, and videos for their friends to see.
7. HikeMoji: HikeMoji was a feature that allowed users to create personalized avatars to represent themselves in the app.
8. Free callings: Did you know, you could call anyone via hike without any internet connection?
The Pen-friend
That one specific feature that caught my attention was Natasha, an AI in 2016! I was quite fascinated, to say the least.
Natasha can be prompted with any questions from basic text: Hi Natasha, how are you? to basically anything a Google assistant is capable of answering. Whenever you wanted to ask Natasha a question, you needed to use the # sign:
#quote: We’ll send you an awesome quote whenever you want it.
#dict WORD: Don’t know the meaning of a word someone just messaged you? Try out my built-in dictionary!
#book NAME: Get the details of any book you’re interested in.
Doesn’t the above-mentioned features sound familiar to you? Almost as if it’s I am talking about any of the popular apps after its recent update in 2020.
Hike Bows Out of the Market
Here’s where I will draw a comparison between Hike and its absolute rival WhatsApp in 3 points:
- The timeline feature was one of Hike’s basic features when it launched globally. Whereas WhatsApp launched its status feature in 2017. Where Status is almost similar to watching stories on Instagram, one could like and comment on Hike’s timeline feature!
- Hike’s Wallet feature was already 3 years old(2017) by the time WhatsApp launched its payment feature in November 2020. Hike even implemented a bill-split feature in groups to easily split the bill among the members.
- Let’s not forget the starter of the conversation, Natasha: Hike’s female Chat Bot which WhatsApp is yet to introduce.
Concluding thoughts
The question arises, even when Hike was an app way ahead of its game why did it fail?
Because it was WAY AHEAD OF ITS TIME! That’s right Hike failed in terms of user retention as it was so fast evolving that the users could not cope with the advancements in the app easily and swiftly. It was almost something out of their comfort zone and thus they felt more engaged and comfortable on Whatsapp.
Why make more cupcakes if no one’s coming to your party?
