Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Google Close to Acquiring WhatsApp for $1 Billion?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If you read properly the rule that you just quoted, youll notice that it refers to forum POSTS. A signature is not part of your post.
appalled...
For the love of god why is this app worth $1bn? Why in gods name is it soooo popular? There are as many messaging services as their are grains of sand on the beach seemingly. Seems like every other week one of my girlfriends is asking me to try yet another messaging app.. we try it once & then go back to our usual messaging platform. I'm just coming to the end of a 2 year trial using Android/Google & I must say I will be so glad to be back on iOS. Android is second rate & Google is prone to bait & switch.. I.e. bring in a new free service, get lots of users, start charging for it all the while data mining me & splattering ads. Then they drop the service anyway lol.. Google must be desperate or they get their money to easily IMHO.
For the love of god why is this app worth $1bn? Why in gods name is it soooo popular? There are as many messaging services as their are grains of sand on the beach seemingly. Seems like every other week one of my girlfriends is asking me to try yet another messaging app.. we try it once & then go back to our usual messaging platform. I'm just coming to the end of a 2 year trial using Android/Google & I must say I will be so glad to be back on iOS. Android is second rate & Google is prone to bait & switch.. I.e. bring in a new free service, get lots of users, start charging for it all the while data mining me & splattering ads. Then they drop the service anyway lol.. Google must be desperate or they get their money to easily IMHO.
Google acquired Meebo for their talent not their apps. And at the time Meebo had very few users to speak of.
well I can only speak from my experience. I live in germany so I cannot comment on the usage of the rest of europe, but I don't see why it wouldn't be equally popular.
I see what you're saying and I agree to an extent, however I don't see it being that serious of an issue to simply call to get more (needed) articulation.
Oh wells some people like their back rubbed more so than their feet messaged and vice versa...it is what it is...
It always amaze me how Americans tend to forget that the world doesn't ends outside USA ....
----------
Whatsapp is notorious for its ridiculous encryption and security ...
I want to know exactly how Whatsapp became so popular. I think they did some very clever hacking there... like put it out for free until you have critical mass, then start charging a small amount of money for it.
I know for a fact that most people here in SE Asia never paid for it. There are or were free versions. Maybe it's free on Android, but 99ct on iPhones, rising on the network effect? Something like that.
Line and Kik are nicer designed and also cross platform but not as popular overseas.
----------
iMessage is dumb. Half the time it doesn't work and messages revert back to text messages.
Also - Apple does not get communications at all. A phone is only useful if other people have a phone also. The larger the user base, the more valuable. So this is NOT something to use to differentiate your platform - because limiting to one platform automatically makes it less valuable than any competitor.
I know for a fact that most people here in SE Asia never paid for it. There are or were free versions. Maybe it's free on Android, but 99ct on iPhones, rising on the network effect? Something like that.
Line and Kik are nicer designed and also cross platform but not as popular overseas.
----------
iMessage is dumb. Half the time it doesn't work and messages revert back to text messages.
Also - Apple does not get communications at all. A phone is only useful if other people have a phone also. The larger the user base, the more valuable. So this is NOT something to use to differentiate your platform - because limiting to one platform automatically makes it less valuable than any competitor.
Of course.
In many countries, it is illegal to harvest numbers without people opting in. Just like it is illegal to spam people by getting their email address off the internet. Signing up for WhatsApp can turn into an opt in, if they put clearly in T&C that they reserve the rights to send ads to you at their own discretion.
Also, why harvest from Yellow Pages? There is no point of sending ads that are not targeted. By parsing the text you send to your friends, they can target you with specific ad (see gmail, google search etc.).
Yeah, really.
----------
I'm in the US, and I hardly use SMS at all. There are so many free services without ads out there that do it. Email is one of them.
I use WhatsApp all the time for international texts, which cost a ridiculous 25 cents per message on AT&T, even with their unlimited texting plan. My international friends don't have iPhones so they can't use iMessage. Whatsapp is the next best thing at the moment.
Narcissistic much? I'm pretty sure not that many people want to read all your your texts.
Google wants the vast iOS user base, where they will switch 'What's App' users to use their new chat service 'Babble'.
Whatsapp is so good that I don't really want Google to buy it. It even runs on sub $50 phones! Google better not mess that up!
----------
The much more vast user base is probably the millions to billions of S40 users on the cheap phones. Whatsapp is pre-installed on many of those cheap phones now.
----------
----------
The much more vast user base is probably the millions to billions of S40 users on the cheap phones. Whatsapp is pre-installed on many of those cheap phones now.
----------
Their rule is once a message is delivered it's deleted from their servers! Can't get much better than that.
Except Kik Messenger, which is free.
And Line, which is also free.
Both are much nicer designed than Whatsapp and have the same features, basically a BBM clone for iPhone/Android. Since they're free, you can just tell your friends to get them - nothing to lose.
I am sure there are others too but Kik and Line is what I use because they work really well. Whatsapp, I only use for those few people I know who only have Whatsapp for some reason. Here in SE Asia everyone seems to use Line.
Also about iMessage - it's too unreliable. The problem is the goal - Apple wants to make iPhones more attractive by offering unlimited messaging between them. The goal is not to get everyone to use iMessage. The problem with this is that nobody has it, same as Facetime. So you end up using something else. I was happy when my mom got an iPhone and iMessage suddenly started working - I sent some international messages, and even photos. Except somtimes it doesn't work and iMessage sends an international MMS instead which is expensive. That's stupid. I know I could change the settings but... it should just work.
----------
^ Ah, it's installed on S40 phones! That explains it. I thought it was only on Android/iOS/BB. So that means WA is basically installed on all phones, period.
I guess Whatsapp really understands the network effect of communications tools. Unlike Apple.
Many people still don't understand why Whatsapp has risen to its current popularity.
As far as I know it is the first instant messaging service on the iPhone (and later Android and other platforms = truly cross platform) that doesn't require the user to "add" or "request to add" or "find and add" a person to the contact list. The app uploads your entire phonebook to their server (privacy concern!) and automatically add everybody that is inside the phonebook and are using whatsapp. It's common now but it's "like magic" in 2009 when it debuted. Other messaging services like LINE and WeChat (beware Chinese censorship) don't have this convenience, at least from the start. Its interface is also closer to the native SMS app.
Whatsapp has basically substituted SMS and is virtually a must for most smartphone users here in Hong Kong which has 6 different mobile operators, 50:50 iPhone/Android ratio and free SMS is not available to most plans. For instance, out of the 597 contacts in my phonebook, 338 of them are using whatsapp.
As far as I know it is the first instant messaging service on the iPhone (and later Android and other platforms = truly cross platform) that doesn't require the user to "add" or "request to add" or "find and add" a person to the contact list. The app uploads your entire phonebook to their server (privacy concern!) and automatically add everybody that is inside the phonebook and are using whatsapp. It's common now but it's "like magic" in 2009 when it debuted. Other messaging services like LINE and WeChat (beware Chinese censorship) don't have this convenience, at least from the start. Its interface is also closer to the native SMS app.
Whatsapp has basically substituted SMS and is virtually a must for most smartphone users here in Hong Kong which has 6 different mobile operators, 50:50 iPhone/Android ratio and free SMS is not available to most plans. For instance, out of the 597 contacts in my phonebook, 338 of them are using whatsapp.
Last edited:
Those are virtually non-existent in mobile form. Yes, they do exist technically but have probably zero mark on the mobile world. WhatsApp is one of the kings of IM, and this is why Google wants them. WhatsApp's only purpose (if acquired by Google) will be to enhance their mobile strategy.
For some may work.
In UK unlimited messages don't include photo or video messages.
And iMessage as good as it is, it's not cross platformed.
