14 DAY TRIAL // Telegram LLC is capitalizing on the hype surrounding Facebook’s costly acquisition of WhatsApp Inc., the company behind the popular cross-platform instant messenger for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia phones.
Telegram is doing everything in its power to convert WhatsApp users to their creed, at times even dissing the IM service now owned by Facebook Inc.
The app’s entire description on iTunes revolves around switching from WhatsApp to Telegram.
For example, here’s a direct reference to WhatsApp’s not-too-rare server downtimes (one of which occurred just this past weekend):
“Telegram is the fastest messaging app on the market because it uses a decentralized infrastructure with data centers positioned around the globe to connect people to the closest possible server,” says the developer.
Next is a reference to some unspecified security issues in the popular WhatsApp Messenger app, something we can’t validate.
“Security flaws in popular apps like WhatsApp have gotten a lot of bad press recently, so we made it our mission to provide the best security on the market,” says Telegram.
As any savvy user will tell you, no software is 100% secure, so don’t buy too much into their claims. The description continues:
“Never lose your data again! Telegram offers free unlimited cloud storage for all your Telegram messages and media that you can securely access from multiple devices.”
This, as far as we know, is something WhatsApp offers as well.
“With Telegram, you can form large group chats (up to 100 members), quickly share gigabyte size videos, and send all the photos you want to friends,” the switcher manifesto continues.
The description also talks about Telegram’s high reliability and ad-free nature, and includes references to privacy and other benefits, like real-time support. In a nutshell, Telegram aims to be everything that WhatsApp is and then some.
And it seems it’s off to a great new start, as it’s currently above WhatsApp in the free apps chart on iTunes.