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Google Close to Acquiring WhatsApp for $1 Billion?

MacsRgr8 said:
Say hello to tons of ads on WhatsApp
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You mean just like on Google Voice and Google Talk? Oh...wait a second, there are none.

there is no way you can put 'tons of ads' on an iOS or Android app. The most you can really do is the standard iAd sized bar, which most free apps (none of Googles mind you) use.

Put the pitchfork down ;)
 
saintforlife said:
So many tin foil hat wearers in this thread. Yeah Google is buying Whatsapp to get all your phone numbers so they can send ads directly to your phone. :rolleyes: Get real people.

There isn't a more admirable company in the world currently than Google. They revolutionized Mapping (you can street view the Mount Everest now for crying out loud!). They will be the first with driver-less car technology. They do so many things amazingly well. They give stuff away for free all the time, probably more than any other company.
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You must be the most naive person on the face of the earth. Google is an ad company, this is how they make (almost) all their money. Everything they do is a means to this end (selling ads).

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0dev said:
Deleting the app from your phone won't remove the data WhatsApp hold on you. As far as I know you can't actually delete your WhatsApp account at all.
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I don't know about that (deleting the account), but at least deleting the app would mean they wouldn't get any *new* data.
 
nStyle said:
So worthless. What cell plan doesn't include text these days?

Useful for an iPod touch MAYBE. But then again, there are free alternatives.
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I think your forgetting international communications.. I speak with multiple contacts around the world a day... Many coworkers and friends do. You can bet that a large majority of international persons living in the US or other countries us this app to communicate cross boarders.. All the ones I know do.

So how is that worthless... international txting does not fall into cell phone plans..
 
vc1212 said:
Three pages of comment and no one mention this:

Google is paying $1B for all YOUR PHONE NUMBERS!

Everyone uses real phone numbers to register WhatsApp, and Google is mining this information. Imagine sending ads directly to your phones. Scary.
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You kid right? Ever heard of Yellow Pages?
 
0dev said:
A lot of people in this thread are missing the point.

Google is not buying WhatsApp because it's a good service or because they don't already have enough users, they are buying it to further the development of their own products. They will use the talent at WhatsApp and the technology they've built to help develop Babble or whatever it'll be called. That's how it always works with these kind of acquisitions.
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Except WhatsApp involves no talent at all. It's a simple Jabber port. The implementation is rather mediocre. Anyone can do this, especially at Google. Google wants the users, nothing else.
 
mariana888 said:
Whilst I use iMessage a lot, it requires the recipient to have an iOS device. You cannot ell people what to buy.
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Me too. Imagine, though, that Apple released iMessage for Android, Windows (all variants including phone), as well as FaceTime (as they promised), what that would do to products and companies like this.
 
A billion for an app that anyone can write? I mean, is there anything really special or is there some kind of patent at work here? I'l like to write the app and charge only 250M. That's a STEAL Apple. Call me.
 
bedifferent said:
Ah, so once an app acquires a large user base, then companies view the potential and it's sharks circling the app time.
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That's about it. :)

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Saladinos said:
That's his point; the product itself is definitely not worth this money.

We're in a bubble because these internet companies like Google and Facebook are still trying to adapt revenues to this "mobile" thing. They're bombarded with talk about how people are using apps more and browsers less and how they need to be deeper inside this market.

In my opinion, it's all analyst and ill-informed-shareholder bunk. The bubble is that there's this new technological nirvana over the horizon and once we get there the internet as we know it will change and these companies will be in uncertain situations.

Personally, I don't like this news. I think that's a grotesque figure. At least double what it's worth.

I'm also hugely skeptical of their position in Asia. The most attractive market there is obviously China (with India a close second). China has a tendency to come up with their own versions of Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc and push those over the "originals". WhatsApp is nothing special; if it is acquired by Google, I'd expect Sinicised alternatives to suddenly become very popular.
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You're taking a rather conservative defintition of 'the product' when it comes to social apps. For social apps, the user base IS the product. I wouldn't be on Facebook if none of my friends were on it. I wouldn't use Whatsapp if not 99% of my contacts has Whatsapp as well. A large userbase is one of the most important qualities of a social media company.
 
johnnnw said:
A billion dollars for an instant messaging app? How could it POSSIBLY be worth that when so many of them exist and how easy they are to make.
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They have around 175 million users, which is almost double what Instagram had.

Instagram = 0 revenues/profits. WhatsApp is pulling in around 100 million in revenue, not sure on profit.

Critical mass is the key here. Google doesn't have an instant-messaging app, and it's easier to buyout a company, eliminate them as a competitor, keep the brand and keep the users.
 
SgtPepper12 said:
Except WhatsApp involves no talent at all. It's a simple Jabber port. The implementation is rather mediocre. Anyone can do this, especially at Google. Google wants the users, nothing else.
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What other jabber based services handle 10 billion messages a day?
 
petrucci666 said:
Critical mass is the key here. Google doesn't have an instant-messaging app, and it's easier to buyout a company, eliminate them as a competitor, keep the brand and keep the users.
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What about Google talk and Google+ Messenger? They have too many im products already.
 
capoeirista said:
A huge user base that already exists?

Although all my friends use whatsapp, I never installed it because I didn't know who owned it/would have access to my data. If this is true, I'll know who owns it, but I still won't install...
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:rolleyes:
 
I love whatsapp and will be a shame to see it get into googles hands, I have been using it since 2010 and sent close to 100 000 messages to family and friends worldwide not to mention ~2000+ pics to date from traveling and among family & friends.
some of the highlights:
- Affordable ($0.99 on iOS + Free on other platforms for at least a year)
- Data Compression...I sent about 600 pics along with about 500 messages on one of my vacations to my siblings and only used about 150MB Data..(Yes the pics were not HD but thats fine)
- Cross platform compatibility (I think whatsapp covers all mobile OS compared to any other messaging app).
- majority of my family and friends have iPhones but we still tend to rely on whatsapp more than any other service.
- No ads and simple to use.

I have used Liveprofile and Kik in the past as well as Viber but I gave those up and use Whatsapp + Vonage Mobile instead as its great.

Vonage Mobile offers Unlimited Calling to Any number in USA & Canada, Video Chat and texting to other members but I use it mostly for calling when I am abroad or away from good cell phone coverage and is much better than Viber which is limited 100% to other users only.

My Top Social Apps:
- Whatsapp
- Vonage Mobile
- iMessage (Mostly use messages actually to text out)
 
johnnnw said:
A billion dollars for an instant messaging app? How could it POSSIBLY be worth that when so many of them exist and how easy they are to make.
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Because there's a massive amount of people actively using it - And thus a massive amount of messages being sent everyday for Google to montinize ;)

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saintforlife said:
So many tin foil hat wearers in this thread. Yeah Google is buying Whatsapp to get all your phone numbers so they can send ads directly to your phone. :rolleyes: Get real people.

There isn't a more admirable company in the world currently than Google. They revolutionized Mapping (you can street view the Mount Everest now for crying out loud!). They will be the first with driver-less car technology. They do so many things amazingly well. They give stuff away for free all the time, probably more than any other company.
Click to expand...

Uh, well how do you think Google makes all their money, then? If pretty much all their services are free? They make money through advertising, by using your personal data to deliver targeted ads to you.
 
Whatsapp is pretty cool but I just don't use it anymore. I used it prior to iMessage in iOS 5. Most of the people that I talk to have an iPhone (international). As for people who don't have an iPhone, I have Verizon and most of my friends have Verizon.
 
mrsir2009 said:
Because there's a massive amount of people actively using it - And thus a massive amount of messages being sent everyday for Google to montinize ;)

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Uh, well how do you think Google makes all their money, then? If pretty much all their services are free? They make money through advertising, by using your personal data to deliver targeted ads to you

How to Prevent your Mac from Overheating - MacInfo.us.
Click to expand...

You mean what you are doing in your own post? You do realize that is exactly what your two links to your own site are doing in your signature?

This breaks a direct rule of advertising in a forum post.
"Advertising. Using the forums for advertising, site or product promotion, or for business deals and offers. You may not make posts to promote commercial, personal, or not-for-profit websites, products, or services. Threads will be deleted if their purpose is to advertise, announce, or promote products, services, or organizations, build traffic at other websites, carry out business activities, or for similar purposes that do not benefit our forum community."
 
.........

and apple will respond by open sourcing iMessage, just like they said they would,

imessage for android, windows, blackberry etc,
once whatsapp comes with conditions attached, and it will with google, people will jump ship.

just my 2p
 
iDuel said:
That would be incorrect. I have family in the United States with Sprint, and they are charged with each international SMS sent.
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Sprint considers Canada to be domestic for SMS purposes.

I thought this was standard on all providers until I got a NASTY surprise upon switching to AT&T, continuing to text with Canadian friends as if nothing happened. They gave me a one time credit for the $60-something charge and I had to use Google Voice since to text them.

Annoying as all hell!
 
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