Dubbed Telegram Chat App for iOS.
Software development company Digital Fortress has released its inaugural app, dubbed Telegram.
Owner Pavel Durov, who also happens to be the creator of Russia’s largest social networking site Vkontakte, says his product is quite simply an English-language chat program with the capability to exchange files between users. It will soon expand to include voice and video communication.
One of the perks of Telegram is that it’s free, but it’s currently only available for Apple iPhones. Durov says an Android version is being developed, however. Although Durov is Russian, Telegram was developed by his U.S.-based company Digital Fortress and is geared toward U.S. consumers.
The app will serve as a tester platform for MTProto, Telegram’s data exchange protocol developed by Durov’s brother.
As reported by VentureBeat, “if the test is a success, a new set of social and/or user location specific functions may be added to the messaging service, as Durov believes that ’other messengers lack’ these unique features.
Durov claims Telegram is a safer, faster way for users to transfer data and messages between each other, going as far to say that messages sent using the app can’t be “bugged by third parties.”
Earlier this year, rumours circulating around the Internet suggested Durov and Digital Fortress was working on a new social networking site named “Telegra.ph” that would lure users away from his Russian social networking site. Durov promptly denied such rumors.
