Maori emojis to launch as 'Emotiki'

  • 27/05/2016
(Facebook)
(Facebook)

The world's first Maori emoji keyboard has been soft-launched for smartphones, called "Emotiki".

Maori emojis to launch as 'Emotiki'

(Te Puia / Facebook)

Te Puia general manager of sales and marketing, Kiri Atkinson-Crean, got the idea while watching her kids congratulate people after a kapa haka festival.

"They were using emojis from anywhere else in the world but from their own culture, so I thought it was an opportunity to create cool little icons that they can start using from their own culture."

Te Puia spokesperson Kiri Atkinson-Crean thinks they'll be very popular.

"I think our pukana will be one that will be used a lot, particularly with the kids in their kapa.I think everyone will have their own little personal favourites; I like the winking one.

"We've done most of the equivalent emotions, then beyond that we've included sports and activities that are really popular among Maori. We've got kapa haka moves and faces and Taiaha."

The keyboard contains more than 150 characters, and will be officially released in July.

Te Puia is New Zealand's Maori cultural centre based in Rotorua.

Newshub.