Zain Bahrain said it has launched SMS Chat for its customers in the Kingdom in a partnership deal with Google.

Under the scheme, Zainers can now send SMS messages to their contacts on Gmail via adding the SMS Chat add on from the ‘labs’.

“Seeing how connected people are these days on their email, this SMS service from Gmail to mobile numbers would be of great benefit to our customers,” said Pakiza Abdulrahman, manager of Handsets & Mobile Data in Zain Bahrain.

'It’s a very unique and exciting experience to expand your reach and connect with your friends. Your friends can easily reply to the SMS and chat with you instantly even if they are not on GMail.'
 
Google does not charge for using this service. However, mobile providers' standard charges will apply to any SMS messages sent from a mobile device to Google Chat.

For phone subscribers of Zain in Bahrain, your contacts on the Zain network will receive your SMS messages for free, and will be charged for replying according to ZAIN’s pricelist for core service (30 fils).

“The service is simple to use and it will be a great communication tool to connect with your loved ones. Now being signed into your email account, send messages to mobiles around the globe,” she noted.
 
'All you need to do is enter your contact’s name in the ‘Search or invite friends’ box in Chat, and select Send SMS from the box of options that appears to the right of your contact’s name,' said Abdulrahman.

Or, if you already have a Chat window open for this contact, just click Options, and select Send SMS. In the dialog box, enter a phone number in the ‘Send SMS messages to this number’ field,' she added.-TradeArabia News Service