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Google Close to Acquiring WhatsApp for $1 Billion?
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In America whatsapp isn't that popular. But in Asia and Europe it is huge. I'm currently working in Asia and everyone on my contact lost has whatsapp.
AT&T wants $20/month for unlimited texting. They were charging me $0.40/text message. I started getting some spam text messages and I was being charged for each one of them. I called AT&T and asked them to block texts so I won't be charged. I have been without standard SMS for a year now. Don't miss it since most of the people I want to text are on iMessage. For the few that are not, I use textPlus. I have never used WhatsApp!
The keyword there is cross platform, and international. First not everybody is using iOS, second sending international SMS is still not free.
Although, frankly I don't think Whatsapp is such a big deal anymore. These days you can easily send messages on many "cross planform" apps, just to name a few: Skype, Facebook message, Viber, Vonage etc. I think what Google is paying is the user base.
hmmmmm obviously still on iOS
You obviously haven't used it, nor do you know it's functionality, speed of ease of use... and of course, you're using an iPhone, in which case it's OK
If you use it on Android it is outstanding and nearly irreplaceable...
You obviously haven't used it, nor do you know it's functionality, speed of ease of use... and of course, you're using an iPhone, in which case it's OK
If you use it on Android it is outstanding and nearly irreplaceable...
Well, I think that there are people that does not live in the USA and don't have unlimited text and there are people that doesn't have iOS devices
iMessage is a waste of space compared to WhatsApp... like most of Apples output nowadays
Even if iMessage was to come out for android it still wouldn't be hit.whatsapp has built a very large base. Even ios users use whatsapp.
And honestly I prefer whatsapp over iMessage. I hardly use iMessage. By I'm always using whatsapp.
Yeah the plan I have with vodafone qatar only allows me 50 free text. They have an u limited plan but its like $200 a month.
I wish they would get a pay as you go plan like t mobile does with.
all the prepaid carriers offer unlimited texting as well. only people holding on are those on unlimited data
I have unlimited international texting included in my plan and now I mostly use iMessage anyway. I deleted WhatsApp a long time ago.
Seems like a lot of money but I suppose with that many users, slapping some ads on it will earn back the money soon enough.
Seems like a lot of money but I suppose with that many users, slapping some ads on it will earn back the money soon enough.
no way
i'm always reading how outside the US you can get unlimited everything for like $10 a month
Alright I was going to say I have never heard of anyone using this, but it is always at the top of the sales list and it was really confusing me.
Never knew about this app but all my friends and I use kakaotalk -- it allows for cross-platform texts for free. I'm not sure about PC connectivity but it gets the job done with group texts and whatnot.
Wow 1 billion!? These 3rd party services for yet another messaging service are a pain. I signed up briefly (i.e. 1hr) for WhatsApp, and like many friends, dropped it as I didn't want to another ID to handle. Using GTalk and iMessage on my iPhone covers me very well...
The tricky thing about the evaluation of a company like this: the user base is the value, but the user base is there because it's not tied to Facebook, Google, etc. So in buying the users, they're also potentially damaging the value. For an acquisition like this, the current vs. future value depends on how autonomous they leave it.