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Facebook Buying Messaging App WhatsApp for $16 Billion
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because it's about reaching a critical mass of users. People are going to use the service that all their friends and family use, even if it's inferior. Same thing with Facebook itself. I don't like Facebook and am sure there are better sites, but it's the one everyone I know is on. And ultimately, both social site and these messaging apps are about who's on it.
I am soo disappointed with Facebook's acquiring Whatsapp.....I would have felt the same if Google had bought it....I wish Apple or Blackberry or Kik or any other company would have purchased it 
, Facebook is already everywhere....now they are going to have phone numbers of those that they didn't have via Facebook, and of those that aren't on Facebook since Whatsapp uses Phone number of user + their contact list to connect everyone.....This is horrible when it comes to privacy as Facebook is now essentially having list of every possible phone number on the planet....as there are more whatsapp users around the globe than any other messaging service or all combined....
, Facebook is already everywhere....now they are going to have phone numbers of those that they didn't have via Facebook, and of those that aren't on Facebook since Whatsapp uses Phone number of user + their contact list to connect everyone.....This is horrible when it comes to privacy as Facebook is now essentially having list of every possible phone number on the planet....as there are more whatsapp users around the globe than any other messaging service or all combined....As said in that post, I don't group chat with messages so I wouldn't know if it is or isn't possible on iMessage, I'm just going off what others have said by saying it doesn't offer group chat support, which I have no knowledge if it does or not.
- Time to market
- Subject matter expertise
- Brand equity of existing product
- Installed user-base
Plus - and this is an important point - you can only hire against the problem/solution to a certain point (regardless of funding ... see Apple ...), after which, there’s actually diminishing returns as the team grows (and starts losing cohesion, etc.)
That being said, the purchase price seems a little frivolous.
Most trends that have played a role in Apples success are the ones that it created itself and others have ridden the coat tails of. The iTunes Store, iPod, iPhone (App Store), iPad, Ultrabooks (MBA), even a well designed GUI. Apple didn't create the initial products, but they definitely created the popularity and demand for them.
Facebook! Listen up! This is what people want: Whatsapp web-based version. We'll be able to use it on our phone, on our PC or on our Mac. Faster typing for while you're at work or at home.
Kind of like the iMessage for Mac, but web-based.
Kind of like the iMessage for Mac, but web-based.
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Zuckerberg has apparently known one of the founders of WhatsApp for a long time. How cozy. Does that make the acquisition worth sixteen billion bucks?
From a piece in NYT's DealBook today:
"By any measure, Facebook is paying a steep price for a mobile application that is widely used internationally but less known in the United States. Including the restricted stock units, the acquisition total amounts to $345 million for every one of the companys 55 employees."
Nice payday...
Group Chat on iMessage works and is great. I use it often. It's very simple. Unsure why anyone would say it doesn't do it. Unless you mean with someone that has Android. But if someone has an iPad, Mac, or iPhone, you can iMessage group chat.
Yeah, but those numbers aren't even high... sure 450 million people... There are still 7 billion people on this planet.. So 16 billion was ridiculous... I'd like to see Facebook stock after this buy.
iMessage definitely offers group chat support. The problem with Apple's implementation of group chat through iMessage is that it is impossible to leave (or at least mute) a group conversation.
As I mentioned in a thread on here a week or so ago, I have a group of friends that like to get an iMessage chat going once every few months when someone has big news they want to share with the rest of the group. The last time that happened, my iPhone blew up with iMessages. I had 90+ iMessage notifications in one hour while I was trying to get work done with my phone. It was absolutely insane. The fact that you can't mute specific conversations is a huge flaw in iMessage.
No. They will reach in and grab your contact list, phone number, and anything else you shared with what's app and sell it to the highest bidder. Much worse, especially for those who don't use facebook.
- Product name - it's already out there
- Stable product
- Customers - the biggest part. Anyone can build a product, but gaining customers is the hardest part
- Why build when you can buy something thats already there.
At least FB is not standing still like Apple and trying to move along with new idea's.
Multi-platform is definitely one factor that got Whatsapp big. Well and that they were one of the few early products for this type of chat. I'm sure if Apple had opened up for Android, they could have easily gained more customers for their IM. At the same time, why should they, Apple is known for having certain application exclusive to their products.
Lmaooooo $16 Billion ?!?! That's a joke right ?
How the HECK do they evaluate it to be worth THAT much ?!
I'm literally in awe .
How the HECK do they evaluate it to be worth THAT much ?!
I'm literally in awe .
There was no need for Apple to buy WhatsApp.
All it needed to do was create a service that worked properly, and was cross-platform. And there would have been no need for WhatsApp.
iMessages doesn't work properly and is almost as bad as Siri and iMaps.
- Facebook is a lazy native app software developer.
- Facebook has a pompous image, imo
- Customers will come and they will go, some new startup will always take the publics eye.
- I'm pretty sure WhatApp is not compatible with Facebook. i.e. the code is just not there and it may even be different languages.
- They are now saying its 19 billion, (I know a lot is in stock). But that is almost enough to buy twitter according to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2013/11/07/wow-twitter-worth-30-billion-i-dont-think-so/)
Only profit numbers do. All the other numbers, not so much.
By no measure WhatsOever.
And way after Unix "talk". Instant messaging predates the Internet.
Because Facebook runs on friendship? It was always WhatsApps goal to be sold to some big advertising company. There are no free services without any twists.
All smartphones, which means not even half of all the phones in the world today. On the other hand iMessage integrates with SMS and MMS and those services work with all feature phones all over the world.
It's becoming clear to me, you know the wrong people.
What? Why wouldn't it work with all sim cards? That's ridiculous.
You are aware how fatally flawed Whatsapp is, right? All you need to do is spoof a phone number (if you know how) and gain access to that users chat and message history. The account information is only tied to the phone number which is all you need to gain access.
Sad part of this is that there is no other app that is as simple [just connecting users by having their numbers saved] and popular as Whatsapp....looking for an alternative is going to be a mission and half
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You do realize that Whatsapp does not let two phones with same number access the app at the same time.....sure the other user can get access...but they will need contact numbers...this isn't iMessage or anything else you are confusing it with.....and from what I have seen is not exactly possible for majority of the people to extract contacts from whatsapp servers somehow....
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You do realize that Whatsapp does not let two phones with same number access the app at the same time.....sure the other user can get access...but they will need contact numbers...this isn't iMessage or anything else you are confusing it with.....and from what I have seen is not exactly possible for majority of the people to extract contacts from whatsapp servers somehow....
I don't think the markets are going to call it well played. They're going to call it paying too much.