I think the benefit is that in the first scenario, you have to maintain the server yourself. In the second, you only have to worry about the clients. It's defin

I think the benefit is that in the first scenario, you have to maintain the server yourself. In the second, you only have to worry about the clients. It's definitely a trade off, but for some developers, the benefit of not having to maintain server infrastructure might outweigh the cost of the added complexity of going through Kik.