Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom has announced his team at Mega
is working on an encrypted messaging service, named MegaChat, to
apparently kill Skype. Kim wrote on Twitter: “Mega will soon release a
fully encrypted and browser based video call & chat service
including high-speed file transfers. Bye bye Skype :-)”
The news comes just weeks after Kim declared bankruptcy,
following the lack of revenue from Mega, his million dollar mansion and
the elongated legal battle to stay in New Zealand. It looks like the
bankruptcy has not stopped Mega from continuing work on a new chat
service.
MegaChat will feature fully encrypted text, voice and video
chat, making sure prying eyes cannot view the messages. Kim argues due
to Skype being based on U.S. servers, it must hand over any files to the
government when requested. However, because MegaChat servers will be
based outside the U.S., there should be no way any government can
infiltrate the servers or gain a warrant to take information.
There are plenty of ways for MegaChat to monetize, the
question is will Mega go far enough to make it a profitable service.
Mega, the cloud storage service, still lacks the necessary revenue,
meaning it is running at an operating loss.
Kim Dotcom may be most well known for MegaUpload and it is
doubtful he will remove that reputation from his portfolio, but Mega and
MegaChat are real moves to create reputable services for personal and
enterprise use.
Mega has over 10 million users, and has become one of the most
popular cloud storage platforms worldwide, hopefully MegaChat will have
the same ease-of-use and security.