Hike launches ‘Total’, a light-weight Android fork designed to work without data

PRERIT CHAUHAN (PHOTO/VIDEO BY SAURABH SHRIVASTAVA)

New Delhi: Hike, the Indian messaging app valued at more than $1 billion, is taking a unique approach to battling WhatsApp which involves dismantling its service, layering it on budget Android phones and offering free connectivity.

Hlke on Wednesday announced the Iaunch of a new product called ‘Total. built by hlke’. ‘Total’ is a refined version of Android targeted at the next blillon people. ‘Total’ lets users access essential services such as Messaging, News, Recharge and more even without an active data connection and paves the way for them to get on Data by providing packs at as low as Re. 1.

On the Launch of ‘Total’ built by hike’, Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder and CEO Hike said, “For the next billion on true mobile first users, coming online can be still be quite complicated and lntimidating.Simplify, simplify, simplify That’s all we‘ve been doing. We ‘ve taken the 15-20 step process of someone coming online and made it into only a few steps. Buy a phone,turn it on and you aren’t good to go. Everything, all the essential services all work out of the box even without data.”