A new market emerged - Kik Messenger's new bot store for iOS has officially been opened, allowing developers to create new chat bots.
One may have a question as to what exactly are chat bots, anyway. So, chat bots are automated chat accounts designed to deliver specific content on user's request, hence, removing the need to install a different app to gain access to sought-after content or service.
Even though the popular messaging application Kik has earlier featured limited-service commercial bots since 2014, it is only now that the bot store has been launched when the whole new door has opened for different development approaches and concepts by third-party individuals. It will potentially be exciting to see what happens as this new way of information gathering and distribution makes its way into the market.
The Kik's store contains 15 bots, some of which are games and services from respected companies like Vine and The Weather Channel for which there were some good user reviews. Kik users are able to gain access to the store through the tab used to create new chats, while developers can get everything on Kik's site devoted to them.
Bots are increasingly gaining traction in the mobile communication space; thanks to advances in natural language processing that allow artificial intelligence-based services to be baked into existing chat apps.
The week prior to Kik's new bot shop announcement, Facebook Messenger gained a very useful airline information bot that allows users to receive booked flight information updates, while Facebook is expected to announce its own bot store for Messenger at its annual developer conference.
Yet another important announcement came from Microsoft about the introduction of Skype bots including Bing Music, Bing News, and Bing Images with the promise of more to come.
Kik is available for free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.