Deutsche Telekom launches joyn Messaging Service
Everything from a single application: chats, file transfers and live video transmissions during voice calls
Free messaging for all Deutsche Telekom customers in plans with Data or SMS-allnet flat rates
Available as a free app in Google’s Play Store (starting immediately) and Apple’s App Store (soon)
Deutsche Telekom customers now have access to the joyn messaging platform. joyn, based on a common technical standard of mobile network operators, supports a range of functions, including group chat, file transfers throughout a range of different file formats and live video sharing during voice calls. In short, a new mobile messenger app, conforming to network-operator quality standards, is now available, and no lengthy registration is required to use it.
Niek Jan van Damme, Board Member with responsibility for Deutsche Telekom’s Germany business, has no doubt whatsoever that the messaging app is going to be a success: “joyn is particularly easy to use. Customers will no longer have to worry about “what’s the best way to reach him/her?”, i.e. they won’t have to remember what different services each of their contacts uses. The joyn services are interoperable between different network operators and operating systems. I am delighted that we can now offer our customers this service and keep helping to build the messaging standard of the future.”
Chat and send files in all smartphone plans, at no additional charge
The chat and file-transfer functions are available at no additional charge for Deutsche Telekom customers with cell phone plans that include a Data or SMS-allnet flat rate. joyn users with such plans can share large numbers of files without having the transmitted data be charged against the data-volume limits in their plans. And the cap on file size is generous: 15 MB. Even live video sharing does not generate any additional costs for customers with a voice flat rate or voice minutes package. Until August 31, 2013, joyn is also available, at no additional charge and without further constraints, to all Deutsche Telekom mobile-services customers with prepaid or fixed-term contracts. For customers with flat rates for voice, data or text messaging (SMS-allnet), full joyn functionality will continue after that date, at no additional cost. In Deutsche Telekom’s mobile network in Germany, joyn chat, file-transfer and camera-activation functions are always free of charge for receiving-end users — even if they have no flat rate for data.
The group chat function enables up to 20 participants to communicate with each other and send messages up to 1,000 characters long. It also supports calls with simultaneous sharing of live-camera photos and videos. As a messaging platform that is interoperable between different networks, joyn can make network boundaries insignificant. Now, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone, Germany’s two largest mobile network operators, are offering their customers this service. Since Telefónica is also opting for it, soon joyn will be available to over 80 percent of all mobile customers in Germany.
A maximum of data security in mobile networks
Since the companies offering the service are located in Germany, along with their server facilities, the service conforms to stringent European data-protection regulations. With joyn—in contrast to the procedure with other messengers—a device’s address book always remains on the local device.
No copies of it are uploaded to globally distributed servers for open-ended storage. When joyn is used via a public WiFi network, initial portions of messages are not transmitted in encrypted form. Deutsche Telekom plans to eliminate that limitation by summer 2013, however. Until then, it recommends that users use the service only via the Deutsche Telekom mobile network or only via encrypted WiFi networks.
A beta version of joyn is now available in the Google Play Store, for Android (at least Version 2.3), and will be available soon in Apple’s App Store for iOS (at least Version 4.0). Downloads are free. In the near future, joyn will come preinstalled on new smartphones of Samsung, HTC, Sony, Nokia, LG and many other manufacturers.
Deutsche Telekom AG
Corporate Communications
Tel.: +49 (0) 228 181 – 4949
E-mail: media@telekom.de
Media representatives can find further information at www.telekom.com/media and www.telekom.com/photos
About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with more than 132 million mobile customers, over 32 million fixed-network lines and 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2012). The Group provides products and services for the fixed network, mobile communications, the Internet and IPTV for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has 230,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 58.2 billion in the 2012 financial year – more than half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2012).
