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US court agrees with SEC that Kik's $100 million coin offering violated the law
A US district judge for the Southern District of New York has agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s assessment that Kik’s $100 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017 was a securities sale. Judge Alvin Hellerstein has granted SEC’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that Kik violated the Securities Act when it sold its tokens called “Kin” without the blessing of the SEC.
Telegram to pay $18.5 million and return $1.2 billion following SEC crypto charges
Telegram has been fined $18.5 million for not properly following securities regulations.
Kik Messenger will keep running under a different owner
Kik Interactive may have chosen to focus on cryptocurrency, but its messaging app will apparently live on. In a new post on Kik's blog, MediaLab has revealed that it has acquired Kik Messenger from its creators and will continue developing the app. MediaLab owns other internet brands like Whisper, the anonymous secret-sharing social network.
Kik is killing its messaging app to focus on cryptocurrency
Kik Interactive is shutting down its messaging app popular for letting you chat with strangers who have similar interests. The app's shutdown is directly connected to the lawsuit the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed against the company in June over its 2017 digital token sale. SEC sees that sale, which raised $100 million, as an illegal, unregistered securities offering. Further, the agency said Kik should've told potential investors that its finances were in trouble.
SEC sues Kik for running an unregistered Initial Coin Offering
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing messaging service Kik Interactive, stating that its 2017 digital token sale, which raised $100 million, was essentially an illegal, unregistered securities offering. According to Bloomberg, this is one the highest profile cases yet where the SEC has targeted a company for not registering an offering with the regulator.
Who needs friends when you have anonymous feedback apps?
The No. 1 app in the iOS App Store has a curious name. It's called Sarahah, and it's been at the top of the iTunes Free Apps chart for the past few weeks. It's an anonymous messaging service for personal feedback. Anyone -- whether they're on the service or not -- can leave comments for users without revealing who they are.
Microsoft's second try at social chat bots arrives in Kik
Microsoft's first foray into social chat bots didn't go so well given that propensity for racist diatribes. It's giving the concept another try, however, and this time it promises to be more successful. Twitter user Tom Hounsell has noticed the existence of Zo, a Microsoft chat bot currently being tested in the messaging app Kik. Effectively, Zo looks like an English-language version of Microsoft's existing Chinese bot, Xiaoce. After briefly gauging your personality, it'll participate in conversations like an overexcited teenager. The bot is far from perfect, but that's what's testing is for, isn't it?
BlackBerry and Kik settle lawsuit over messaging patents
Kik has lived with the burden of a lawsuit for most of its life -- BlackBerry sued the company in 2010 for allegedly infringing on BBM-related patents with its multi-platform chat app. All that's water under the bridge, however, as Kik says that the two firms quietly settled the lawsuit last month. While the terms of the deal aren't public, it's clear that Kik is ultimately the winner. The startup had once offered to halt development if BBM went cross-platform, but it's now larger than the service it meant to replace -- Kik has over 90 million users versus BBM's 60 million. If nothing else, the settlement shows that it's wise to avoid making enemies in the technology world.
Windows Phone 7 gets its Kik, too
It would seem Kik, everybody's almost favorite free messaging service -- except those on a BlackBerry, perhaps -- has added Windows Phone 7 to its list of supported platforms. What's Kik you ask? Well, in case you've been hiding under a rock, Kik's an instant messaging app with BBM-like features such as message status which lets you know if your message has been read, received, or if whomever you messaged is typing back. Throw in photo sharing and the fact that it is free, and well, you get the idea. While any mobile messaging app of this sort requires some selling on the part of the early adopters we'd guess by the uptake on both Android and iOS that Kik will quickly become a pretty hot property on the Windows Marketplace. So tell us, are you as hip and cool as Jon and Jessica and "down" with this type of service? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.
Windows Phone adds multitasking, deeper OS integration, and sensor access to dev platform
We knew it was coming, and today at MIX 11, Microsoft showed off its developer platform for the next version of Windows Phone, which developers will be able to get their hands on for free in May. The new application platform adds: Multitasking for background processing, audio and file transfer, and fast app switching, including background audio playback for HTML5 webpages Deeper integration of apps into the OS, allowing programs to leverage Live Tiles, including push notifications via Live Agents running in the background Raw access to the camera and sensors (gyro and compass) via the Motion Sensor library, letting apps to control device hardware Microsoft hopes this will allow developers to make even more creative and engaging apps. To get our juices flowing, it showed off demos of new app concepts from Skype, Spotify, Layar, Qantas, Amazon Shopping, and Kik Messenger. Check out our gallery below and hit the break for the details. %Gallery-121151%
RIM sues Kik in Canada for patent infringement (updated)
Things just got a little more heated in the RIM / Kik dispute: RIM's now filed a Canadian patent infringement case against the company, just days after it pulled Kik Messenger from BlackBerry App World due to "breached contractual obligations." We don't have the complaint yet, so we're not sure exactly what RIM's patent covers, but it's a fair bet to say it's likely messaging-related -- and it's probably a safer bet to say that RIM doesn't screw around when it comes to dealing with potential threats to BBM. You mess with the bull, you get the horns. Update: The complaint is out now, and it's a doozy -- RIM says Kik founder Ted Livingston was a former RIM employee who worked on BBM. When he left RIM claims he joined the BlackBerry Alliance developer program to ostensibly develop a music sharing app, but wrote Kik Messenger instead, using what RIM claims is confidential information from the Alliance program. RIM's also saying that Kik's marketing steps on the BBM trademark. That's a lot more than a simple patent issue, and it certainly explains why RIM reacted so violently to the app -- we'll see how Kik responds.
RIM: Kik was pulled from App World over 'breached contractual obligations'
Looks like RIM has made a final decision on the Kik situation after having pulled the wildly popular upstart instant messaging app from the BlackBerry App World a few days ago -- and for current and hopeful Kik users, the news isn't good (bold added by us): "RIM became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service. Following discussions with Kik, the app was removed from BlackBerry App World on November 12. Upon further investigation, RIM concluded that Kik had breached contractual obligations. Based on the broad scope and seriousness of the issues and concerns, RIM terminated its agreements with Kik and withdrew RIM's support for Kik's service." Now, Waterloo is still being pretty coy about what exactly Kik did to rock the boat so badly, but there are two obvious theories floating around: one, that Kik's contact harvesting was a big privacy no-no; and two, that the product came a little too close to BBM's functionality for RIM's comfort. Hard to say what went down, and Kik's official response doesn't do much to clear up the situation. Though the company has thrown up a public response on its blog, it doesn't clarify what transpired, what "contractual obligations" were allegedly breached, or what (if anything) Kik might do to attempt to smooth over the spat. Instead, the post is more of a PR play, praising the relationship Kik's had with RIM in the past and saying it doubts rumors that BBM envy could account for the pull. It does say, however, that RIM has fully revoked Kik's access to push notifications and the BlackBerry SDK, so it's going to be tough for these guys to stay relevant on Bolds and Curves across the land unless RIM reverses its decision.
RIM pulls Kik Messenger from App World, cites 'number of issues and customer concerns'
Kik Messenger -- the real-time mobile messaging service that's seemingly taken the world by storm over the past couple weeks -- has been pulled from RIM's App World, making it a bit trickier for BlackBerry users to get hold of the app. It's easy to formulate conspiracy theories here considering that Kik might provide the single most legitimate cross-platform threat to BBM at the moment, and frankly, RIM hasn't actually said much with its official statement on the matter: "RIM became aware of a number of issues and customer concerns regarding the Kik app and service and, following discussions with Kik, the app was removed from BlackBerry App World. RIM is actively reviewing the issues and potential resolutions, and is also continuing its discussions with Kik." To be fair, Kik's contact farming -- a big contributor to its exponential growth -- is a totally valid privacy concern and probably plays a big role in RIM's decision here... but for the moment, we're only left to wonder. The company says it'll let us know "when further information is available," so we'll be sure to pass it on.