Amazon concedes that Chime SDK makes far more sense than the Chime application itself

Amazon’s announcement on Wednesday that it is abandoning its Chime collaboration app, while stressing that it will double down on the far more successful Chime software development kit (SDK), was an example of Amazon being Amazon. It knows what it does well, and where to focus.

Analysts said that the Chime app made some sense when it was introduced in February 2017, but that sharply changed in 2000 when the pandemic hit. Microsoft and Zoom added lots of new functionality to their collaboration platforms, but Amazon didn’t add much to Chime. And over the years, rivals have continued to beef up their products. 

Chime’s feature set quickly was outshone and its market share plunged; currently its share is negligible, with one firm placing it at literally 0.0%. 

Amazon itself described its Chime app market share as “limited,” and conceded that its competitors, which it referred to as partners, had outpaced it.

“When we decide to retire a service or feature, it is typically because we’ve introduced something better or our partners offer a solution that is a good fit for our customers as well as our own employees,” said an Amazon media relations contact who asked that his name not be used. “In Chime’s case, its use outside of Amazon was limited and our partners offer great collaboration solutions, so we will lean into those.”

In an internal memo to Amazon employees, the company threw its support behind key rivals. “Zoom is replacing Amazon Chime as the standard meeting application for Amazon internal meetings,” it said.  “Microsoft Teams will also be available for scenarios where full integration with M365 is needed. Cisco Webex will also be available for communication with customers who use Cisco Webex.”

The app has failed, but popular SDK prevails

The Chime app’s situation is almost the opposite of that of the popular Chime SDK. The lack of functionality that was so important to app users was irrelevant to users of the SDK, as enterprises and vendors used it as the foundation for capabilities they built into their own apps, including Slack Huddles and Intuit’s Virtual Expert Platform. 

Amazon also introduced its SDK much earlier than did Microsoft or Zoom, allowing the Chime SDK to build up a significant market share advantage, said Melody Brue, VP and principal analyst for Moor Insights & Strategy.

“I’m not surprised at all [about the app’s demise],” Brue said. “They really haven’t invested a whole lot into the Chime app.”

Jeremy Roberts, the senior director of research at Info-Tech Research Group, agreed. He said the decision to kill the Chime app while increasing support for the Chime SDK made perfect sense.

“My takeaway is that this is very logical. They never climbed to the top of the stack [with the app]. [Enterprises] didn’t like the product, but they loved the infrastructure,” Roberts said. “Amazon is a good telescope manufacturer but not a good astronomer.”

Wayne Kurtzman, an IDC research VP, also noted that Amazon never promoted the Chime app, although they certainly could have.

“Amazon is really good at creating narratives, but Chime never had a good go-to-market strategy,” Kurtzman said. “It fell short in creating mindshare in a market that was growing incredibly rapidly.” 

One year warning for users, migration help promised

In Amazon’s public statement, the company said, “After careful consideration, we have decided to end support for the Amazon Chime service, including Business Calling features, effective February 20, 2026. Amazon Chime will no longer accept new customers beginning February 19, 2025. Existing customers can continue to use Amazon Chime features, including Business Calling, scheduling and hosting meetings, adding and managing users, and other capabilities supported through the Amazon Chime administration console.”

It then pledged to help transition the few remaining Chime app users to other platforms, including “solutions provided by AWS, such as AWS Wickr, or from AWS partners, such as Zoom from Zoom Video Communications Inc., Webex from Cisco Systems, Inc., and Slack from Salesforce.”

Alternative AWS Wickr ‘should have its chance to shine,’ says analyst

However, Roberts questioned how long Amazon will support Wickr, given that it suffers from many of the same shortcomings as the Chime app. “I don’t see a lot of Wickr use with our enterprise clients,” he said. But, he added, the robust security capabilities within Wickr may make it viable in select segments, such as governments. 

Will McKeon-White, a senior analyst with Forrester, was more optimistic about Wickr, arguing that an encrypted messaging app is going to have more staying power than a video conferencing one.

“Usually, replacing a messaging solution is much more difficult than replacing a video calling solution,” McKeon-White said. “Messaging needs to have integration into a whole host of different things. What it comes down to is that it’s much harder to replace.”

Part of the issue is that users often need to refer to messages from months earlier, but they rarely have to review old conference calls. That is why employees will often hang onto those old messaging apps even if the corporate standard has changed, because “there is some critical thing that they need that messaging app for.”

IDC’s Kurtzman also said that Wickr should get its chance to shine.

“They have a good security narrative and a good security story, which is advanced cryptography,” he said, noting that should be a critical feature given that enterprises are putting “all of the intellectual property of the business” into their messages. He said that Wickr might be positioned as the glue to integrate different genAI offerings from different companies.

In the end, said Roberts, the key enterprise IT takeaway from this is to stick with the dominant players in the collaboration space. “It validates the decision to consolidate on the blue-chip collaboration solutions.”

Source:: Computer World