It’s been said that chat bots are the way of the future. Microsoft certainly believes this to be true, as they’ve developed a Bot Framework that will allow anyone to create a bot for them and their customers to use.
It was recently announced that alongside Skype, Slack, SMS and other programs, Kik has also been launched as a channel on the Microsoft Bot Connector.
The Bot Framework was revealed to developers during Microsoft Build. The program is unique in that it allows developers to write one set of code that can be displayed across multiple channels.
According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft launched the Bot Framework in the hopes that bots will eventually replace web and app interfaces. The company demonstrated this program by developing a chat bot on stage for Dominos to show how a conversational interface could eventually replace ordering forms.
Kim’s channel has been in production for a month. According to a statement sent to MobileSyrup, over 40 percent of teenagers use Kik in approximately 230 countries world wide, which total 275 million users. The Canadian-based messaging app was developed by a group of University of Waterloo students in 2009 and ha grown to employ over 100 people.
This isn’t the Canadian company’s first dive into chat bots. Earlier this month Kik launched a bot shop that featured 16 bots from a variety of partners including Funny or Die, Sephora and the Weather Channel.
The app is available for download on iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and Amazon.
Related reading: Kik opens a bot shop with 16 chat bots
[source]Kik[/source]
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