mysms | mysms blog

October 23, 2012

mysms goes premium – working on native tablet apps

Posted in mysms news by mysms

Dear mysms users,

the last months have shown tremendous growth for mysms. We have more than doubled the number of users connected to the mysms cloud, and the messaging volume overall has more than tripled. Most importantly to us, we achieved new highs in customer satisfaction measured by app store reviews. Thank you for the trust put in us and I want to assure you that we keep on working hard to provide the best-in-class messaging experience to you in future.

mysms – our next steps

We started the mysms journey one and a half years ago with a clear vision in mind – to bring text messaging to the cloud, meaning to enable our users to send and receive messages on all their devices wherever they are. What we did not have right from the beginning was a clear business model. mysms is still free to all of you and also free of advertising. We have analyzed what you are expecting from a service like mysms and decided to take mysms to the next level throughout the coming weeks. What does this mean for you?

1.) Native apps for iPad, Android tablet, Windows 8 tablet and desktop

The rise of tablets is a fact. Until now our web app was available to iPad users and on Android we wrapped the web app into a tablet optimized app and added native notifications. We are well aware that this is not the best user experience and think that you deserve something better. Moreover, Microsoft started to roll out Windows 8 for tablet and desktop devices. Taking all this together we decided to build the best native tablet and desktop apps for sending & receiving text messages currently available. Those apps will be made available to you gradually over the coming months and we strive to have the full portfolio completed by the end of the year.

2.) Introducing our premium business model

We are currently syncing more than 300.000.000 messages across our servers. At this point we think it is fair to charge for our service. Therefore, starting from today, we will introduce a dead simple premium model. The use of all smartphone applications (Android, iPhone, Windows Phone) and the use of our web app will remain free to all of you. All tablet and desktop apps that come with native notifications will be available at a price between 3€ and 5€. The first app to go premium is the version for the Apple Mac App Store. All other apps (Android tablet, iPad, Windows 8 for tablet and desktop) will go premium as they become available.

These changes will allow us to provide you with a fantastic user experience across all your connected devices and at the same time have our service completely free of advertising.

We are more enthusiastic than ever about the future of mysms and hope that you will continue going our journey with us throughout the next years. It’s great to count on your support.

Thanks,

Martin (CEO mysms)

Update October 9, 2014: Starting today we are introducing a new Premium model that will be different to the Premium that we presented in this post. We are switching from on-off app purchases to a subscription based model. What does not change is that it’s always your decision to go Premium or not. We offer the basic version of mysms for free and are not planning to change this. Find more information about mysms Premium here.

October 16, 2012

We’ve got a new mysms team member

Posted in mysms news by mysms

Today we have great news for you. mysms is growing constantly in terms of users and our very own team is becoming bigger and bigger. Please give a warm welcome to our newest and youngest team member – Silvia

Silvia

Silvia joined mysms to reinforce the Marketing team this October. She’ll be the new face behind the mysms social media appearance. You’d like to know more? Here it is:

What is your role at mysms?

I’m responsible for our mysms social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Additionally, I’ll cope with your issues, questions and suggestions on our feedback platform getsatisfaction.com/mysms. Well, and the reason why this blog post about me is published here is that from now on I’ll also provide you deeper information about relevant topics via our mysms blog.

What‘s your intention?

I’d like to share my passion for mysms and topics regarding the mobile and digital world. You should be on top of information and get quick answers on our different platforms. Furthermore, it should be easy to get in touch with mysms, whenever you have a question – also when it is just a short one.

What topics are you going to cover?

Based on our different platforms I’m going to share new releases or features of mysms, news from the digital and mobile industry as well as entertaining content. Moreover, I’ll provide you deeper information about relevant and the latest topics on this blog. You know a topic that you want to learn more about? Please let me know! Additionally, I’ll answer your requests on our social media channels and on our mysms feedback-platform getsatisfaction.com/mysms. I’ll be one of the interfaces between you and the mysms team – I’m here to help.

What do you like beyond the work at mysms?

I’m currently doing my Masters in International Marketing and I am discovering and extending my passion for the mobile and digital industry. In my freetime I love singing in an ensemble to beautify someone’s wedding or other events. Moreover, I do some sports to find the right balance.

I cannot wait to talk to you on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ as well as on getsatisfaction.com/mysms and discuss what’s hot in mobile on this blog. Come and join our community and don’t hesitate to get in touch with me!

Read you soon, Silvia

September 6, 2012

mysms for Windows Phone is Here!

Posted in apps, messaging, mysms news by Lisa Leitner

Here at mysms we made a big step towards platform-independence last weekend, when we released mysms for Windows Phone. Our messaging app is now available for 88 % of all smartphones. In other words, the amount of your mysms friends is growing continuously. That’s brilliant news, right?

Until now mysms has been available for iOS and Android smartphones only. These days are over! With the rise of Windows Phone OS we decided to broaden our portfolio. So here it is, our mysms app for Windows Phone:

mysms for Windows Phone

You can find our mysms Windows Phone app at Windows’ Marketplace and download it for free. Invite your friends, no matter if they own an iPhone, Android or Windows Phone, so you can send them messages free of charge.

Also, Windows Phone users can now use our Android Tablet app and web apps. Our web app portfolio includes mysms for Windows (desktop), Mac, Facebook, Chrome and any other web browser. Using mysms on a personal computer allows you to enter your messages comfortably on your computer keyboard. Believe me, you will love this!

mysms family

When designing mysms for Windows Phone, we stuck to Windows’ design elements. mysms adapts colors to your current theme and uses buttons you’re familiar with. Consequently, it’s intuitive and easy to use as well as it’s a feast for the eyes 😉

As mysms for Windows Phone is still in beta, we’d love to hear what you think about our newest mysms family member. Let us know in the comments.

Please note: We decided to stop the development of our Windows Phone app in October 2013. This has several reasons, which you can read in this blog post.

August 16, 2012

Why we love text messaging

Posted in messaging by Lisa Leitner

From a 21^st century point of view, text messaging might look like an old technology. With the revolution of apps you read headlines like “Text messaging is dead” or “Messengers kill SMS” on tech blogs every now and then. However, fact is that the long history of text messaging is one of the reasons why we regard texts as a reliable and pleasant way of communication. Our sympathy for text messages is so great that we might also say: we love text messaging.

A survey conducted by Acision found that 92 % of smartphone users still send text messages. This makes texting one of the most widespread methods of communication in the world. Also, against all odds, SMS usage is increasing with about 8,000,000,000 texts being sent every day.

Text Messaging Differences I – Women vs Men

While both obviously love text messaging, they use it for different purposes. Men send texts for practical reasons: It’s fast, you can avoid nasty phone calls and come straight to the point. Women use texting to deepen relationships. On average, their texts are longer and contain more emotional messages. 54 % of all polled women said they text their beloved “I love you”-messages to cultivate human relations.

Text Messaging Differences II – Young vs “Mature“

Also, the purpose of texting is different across different age groups. While 18 – 25 year-olds send about 133 texts a week mainly to their friends, 55+ year-olds use text messaging to stay in contact with their family. Very interesting fact: Only 19 % of under 25s use services like Skype or Twitter on their mobile, but 94 % of them send text messages.

The main reason people prefer to send a text rather than using another kind of communication is reliability and trust. 46 % of respondents claimed that texting is more reliable than other messaging services and 69 % said that they would be lost without text messaging. Other reasons why we love text messaging are its immediacy, speed of delivery and reach.

While sending a message via a social media platform feels less immediate to many smartphone owners, text messages often elicit instantaneous responses. Internet psychologist Graham Jones says: “People today are also compartmentalising their messages as they all have a specific purpose. Email is being used much less for personal communication and much more for business, whereas social networks tend to remain a medium to message friends and peers, sometimes on a one-to-many basis.”

Also “Text messaging remains a functional communication tool, but still with a personal aspect, which could explain its longevity,” he continues. “You can say things in text you wouldn’t necessarily say on another communication tool. Although there has been an influx in new broadband-based messaging services, which people are certainly experimenting with, people are differentiating services according to their need and using them as complimentary services as opposed to stopping usage of one or another messaging service.”

It’s great to have a choice, and it’s great to rely on a service; a service that lets us connect with our family and friends on a very personal level, is fast and reaches out to every phone all over the world. That’s why we still love text messaging.

Why do you love text messaging? Let us know in the comments.

August 8, 2012

mysms Insights: Our New Office in Graz, Austria

Posted in mysms news by mysms

As we‘ve already mentioned in our last mysms insights blogpost about our new office in Sunnyvale, CA, we also moved our headquarters to a new office in Graz, Austria. On a very summery Friday in June the whole team packed their traps and left the old mysms masonry.

packing our things in the old mysms office

Busy bees in the old mysms office

Packed with all our belongings we moved to a very stylish and completely new office in the South of the city. We carried, we schlepped, we packed, we unpacked, we cleared out, we assembled and at the end of the day we were exhausted and happy. The result is nothing to sneeze at. Look and see!

We love our new chill-out area

This is our chill-out area, where we relax, have coffee and discuss ideas. Pretty comfy, don’t you think?

Our developers @ work

This is where the magic happens 😉 – our development team, who makes sure mysms works properly and builds new features and apps for our users.

Video-conferencing in our new meeting room

In our two meeting rooms we come together, brainstorm, discuss concepts and skype with colleagues and partners all over the world.

Our slogan, logo and values cover our walls and represent the spirit of the team.

In a nutshell, we love our new office and feel at ease with it. If you are curious and happen to be in Graz one day, feel free to stop by! 😉

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