There’s a great disturbance in the Force; as if millions of accounts suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
South African messaging service Mxit – which is well known to generations of adolescents in the 2000s – has formally decided to close operations and donate company assets in the face of a declining user-base.
Mxit announced last week Friday that the company would donate its intellectual property and technology to The Reach Trust. Former CEO Francois Swart will step down after three years running the company, while all employees will now be employed by the Trust.
“…Mxit overall has seen a decline in activity and engagement over the past 18th months…” Swart confirmed, adding that “the use of services offered by The Reach Trust has been stable and in many cases shows an upward trend”.
Pity I was so burntout in 2011 to take mxit further.Had all ingredients to become major success story. The missing catalyst was new energy
“” Herman Heunis (@hermanheunis) October 27, 2015
The Reach Trust itself is an independent public benefit organisation established to improve lives through cost-savvy and innovative mobile solutions.
It is expected that The Reach Trust will continue to maintain Mxit as a service, and users will still be able to access and use its services. However, no new functionality will be introduced.
Mxit faced a rapid decline first from the arrival of BlackBerry’s Messaging Service (BBM) in South Africa from 2005, and further failed to compete against WhatsApp. Mxit Chairman Michael Jordaan, speaking to IT Web, confirmed that Mxit should have embraced the arrival of smartphones far earlier.
“Mxit failed to make the jump away from feature phones quickly enough. You have to move very fast in the highly competitive mobile space to stay relevant” Jordaan said.
The Reach Trust aims to use Mxit’s technology for social purposes, to aid in education and community upliftment. In another statement to IT Web, Andrew Rudge, CEO of The Reach Trust, said “With the power of mobile technology in the hands of almost everyone in the country, we believe it is critical to extend and expand the access to mobile content and services to accelerate social and economic change.”
What are your thoughts on the end of Mxit as a business? Was there any way the company could have effectively competed against the likes of WhatsApp and BBM? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: IT Web
