Meet Canadian Startup Quimby aka SnapChat Before SnapChat

By: Jeff Stewart  |   January 3rd, 2013   |   Mobile Apps, News, O Canada, Smartphones

The multimedia texting app SnapChat made it into the top three apps in the list of iTunes apps soon after the startup was launched. The mobile texting app was able to gain this popularity in a short period of time because of its excellent features. However, the feature that really helped SnapChat reach the top was the one that allows users to self-destruct messages that have been sent

 

Due to this key feature, SnapChat quickly became a favourite app among all age groups, with teenagers using it more than anyone else. SnapChat allows them to chat freely about anything and anyone without having the fear of leaving such messages in their inbox because this app self-destructs them.

 

However, when Facebook saw the popularity of SnapChat, the social site instantly put its software engineers to work, who produced a replica of this multimedia texting app and launched it as their own mobile app by the name of “Poke”. Since Poke has similar features to SnapChat, it wasn’t long before the new app also started gaining popularity. However, once users came to know that this mobile texting app from Facebook was a deliberate copy of Snapchat, it started losing users.

 

This copy controversy surrounding Snapchat’s technology is still surrounding Poke and Facebook. But this does not mean that SnapChat was the only app that was designed to perform the self-distruct messaging task. As even before SnapChat, a Toronto based startup named Quimby was released, featuring a similar premise that has made both of the aforementioned apps popular.

 

The founder of Quimby, Heather Burns suggested that her app will be more popular among adults because it is catered to an older audience. Additionally, Quimby serves another purpose very well, in that it is ideal fro highly sensitive texting between co-workers and employers. Therefore, one could rate Quimby as high as SnapChat in both substance and form.

 

Added value also stems from the fact that Quimby offers privacy and security against scorned lovers and the like who may use compromising messages and photos to take revenge against users, something that should have celebrities downloading in droves.

 

Source: Nibletz