Samsung to Shut Down ChatOn Service

After previously denying leaked reports that the ChatOn service was planned for disbandment, South Korean tech giant Samsung has announced in Korean media plans to says ‘cya’ to ChatOn. According to information reported by news outlet Yonhap News, the company’s statement specified it will do away with ChatOn come February 1, 2015. At this point in time, it’s not explicitly clear whether the closure will propagate through all regions of the world. Samsung was keen to point out that users would be given an option to back up their data before the shutdown is executed.ChatOn is a global mobile comm. system brought about by Sammy in 2011. Today, this service serves users in 120 global countries and 62 languages. It works on a number of devices and platforms, including the Windows Phone (Samsung Zone), the BlackBerry, Android and iOS, as well as bada smartphones. Users can also access the service online via Samsung’s ChatOn service portal. The service has been well integrated with social networks, and uniquely allows users to create animation messages that can be watched rather than read. Broadcasting features are also available, enabling users to send notices to a chat room.It might be interesting to know why Samsung Electronics opted to shut down a service that has undoubtedly been a huge investment. In the same report, Samsung blamed evolving market conditions for this particular change. It seems that despite having a user base of over 100 million users, people were not actually using this software that came preloaded on so many smartphones.ChatOn will shut down on February 1^st everywhere expect the US. The US shutdown is scheduled sometimes in the first quarter of 2015, although Samsung has not so far provided a more specific date.