<p>TextNow is one of dozens of over-the-top messaging companies populating app stores around the world. It has done all right for itself. Its app is generating 18 million downloads, and it has built up a revenue stream by swapping advertising views for voice minutes. But TextNow is no WhatsApp or Viber, each of which has hundreds of millions of users.</p><p>TextNow's creator Enflick, however, plans to set itself apart from the messaging pack by becoming a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), the company told GigaOM. TextNow isn't going to be your typical virtual operator reselling a carrier's voice and data bundles, Enflick CEO and co-founder Derek Ting said. Instead, it hopes to become the country's first entirely all-IP mobile carrier think Vonage, but on a mobile handset.</p><p>In the next few days Enflick plans to kick off its new business with a TextNow Wi-Fi hotspot that connects to Sprint's 3G network. But it will start looking more like a full-fledged mobile operator later this summer when it starts selling an Android smartphone, a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S II. This phone won't ship with any of its normal cellular voice and SMS features enabled. Instead, Ting said the device will connect solely to mobile data networks, and all calls and texts will be routed through the TextNow's back end VoIP and messaging system.A model tailor-made for an MVNO</p><p>Enflick has been edging toward the carrier model since its inception, Ting said. Like its messaging competitors textPlus and TextMe, TextNow issues all of its customers ten-digit phone numbers, which they can use to reach the world beyond its network. Consequently most of TextNow's customers use the service to add SMS and voice capabilities to devices never intended to make voice calls or receive text messages.</p><p><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/06/13/messaging-app-textnow-is-morphing-into-an-all-ip-mobile-operator/">Keep reading...</a></p>