Samsung's new acquisition will help it deliver an "advanced messaging experience"

Samsung has revealed its acquisition of NewNet Communication Technologies in a press release yesterday. The Canadian company, which specialises in Rich Communication Services (RCS) products, could help Samsung deliver a new messaging service similar to Apple’s iMessage.

Samsung has previously explored its own messaging apps, most notably with ChatON, which launched in 2011. Despite having a reported 100 million users at some interval, ChatON was overtaken by rival messaging apps and shut down in February 2015; Samsung said that it wanted instead to focus on its “core services”.

Regarding its new acquisition, Samsung stated that consumers could “benefit from an advanced messaging experience with features such as enhanced calling, group chat, and the ability to easily share and transfer large files including multimedia and high-resolution photos.” but didn’t reveal how it might integrate NewNet’s technologies.

Samsung also sees an industry-wide benefit from the acquisition, stating that the move will “accelerate the deployment of RCS-enabled networks,” which are still in their infancy.

Google recently rolled out RCS features to its Messenger app, but the usage of them is restricted to Google Pixel or Nexus 6P owners on the Sprint network. Samsung said its own product would be able to “communicate on any network, with an RCS-enabled device as well as SMS-only devices.”