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Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

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Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#21

Post by terhechte »

dsl wrote: post #6
mik3y wrote: post #2

Citation needed; I'd certainly love to know whether J2ME devices were a significant chunk of WhatsApp's actives, but there's zero data to back up the suggestion..

As of today: Smartphones outsold feature phones for this first time ever in India. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/samsung-smartphones-outse... From my personal experiences, international countries that have smartphone adoption use Viber, and the feature phone countries use WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is also really strong here in Germany and other parts of Europe. More of my friends are on WhatsApp than Facebook (only very few more though).

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#22

Post by gojomo »

sspiff wrote: post #16
thewarrior wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes all of them work. Not just that they work surprisingly well. This is the best J2ME app that I have ever used on my phone.

Background notifications too? I'm surprised - I wrote a Twitter client in 2009, and I couldn't find a way to make that work. I didn't think J2ME could do that at all, to be honest.

Maybe some form of this... ?

http://www.javaworld.com/article/2071753/mobile-java/push-me...

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#23

Post by Indyan »

mik3y wrote: post #2

Citation needed; I'd certainly love to know whether J2ME devices were a significant chunk of WhatsApp's actives, but there's zero data to back up the suggestion..

It's not just the raw numbers. I would love to move onto Telegram, which is more secure, has an API, and works from a desktop. But, I can't.

There are about five or six odd people in my life (professional or private) that I message frequently. Even if 1 out of them isn't on a particular messaging platform, I can't adopt that platform wholeheartedly. With Fb Messages, Hangouts and every other popular smartphone oriented messaging platform there would always be that one or two contacts that you regularly communicate with, who would be left out due to having an incompatible device. Whatsapp on the other hand works on pretty much every phone. When you want to replace something as prevalent as SMS, the long tail matters.

There's another tangible benefit of focusing on so many platforms. Whatsapp, which doesn't spend much (if anything at all) on promotion, is prominently featured in the advertisements of many budget phones, as manufacturers see Whatsapp support as a strong selling point.

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#24

Post by User8712 »

cturhan wrote: post #19

Facebook paid 16B Dollars for 400,000,000 active phone numbers and all the personal info bound to them. It's not the app itself it's the data, you know it well too.

It's likely most of those users were once on Facebook, so I don't think personal info was a big selling point here. I think they made the purchase because 400,000,000 users outside of their bubble is a little worrying. It's a threat, what happens if WhatsApp begins to pivot and push more into Facebook territory?

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#25

Post by mattsyd »

cturhan wrote: post #19

Facebook paid 16B Dollars for 400,000,000 active phone numbers and all the personal info bound to them. It's not the app itself it's the data, you know it well too.

That's not the case. WhatsApp barely holds any data. The user doesn't have to give over their personal details. It ties them to their mobile number & messages are stored only until they're pushed to the client. Once pushed they are then removed from WhatsApp servers.

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#26

Post by blazespin »

colin_mccabe wrote: post #15

Let's not forget Symbian and Blackberry either. WhatsApp also runs on those. I don't think starting a new Blackberry, Symbian or J2ME project today is really a good idea, though. It takes at least a few years for a company to make an exit, and by the time you do, those burning platforms will have flamed out.

It absolutely makes sense to work on a J2ME app today if you have a product aimed at developing nations. They won't be swimming in smartphones any time soon.

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#27

Post by microtonal »

terhechte wrote: post #21
dsl wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of today: Smartphones outsold feature phones for this first time ever in India. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/samsung-smartphones-outse... From my personal experiences, international countries that have smartphone adoption use Viber, and the feature phone countries use WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is also really strong here in Germany and other parts of Europe. More of my friends are on WhatsApp than Facebook (only very few more though).

Also in the Netherlands. E.g. in June 2013, 75% of the smartphone users used WhatsApp daily. Moreover, more than three quarter of the Dutch citizens has a smartphone.

So, WhatsApp is definitely used in high-profit markets as well.

Source: http://www.nu.nl/tech/3506473/whatsapp-heeft-kwart-miljard-a...

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#29

Post by microtonal »

cturhan wrote: post #19

Facebook paid 16B Dollars for 400,000,000 active phone numbers and all the personal info bound to them. It's not the app itself it's the data, you know it well too.

However, they wouldn't have had 400 million active users, if they didn't make WhatsApp ubiquitous. And with only half or a quarter of the users, they'd be worth far less.

Re: Your Path to a $16B exit? Build a J2ME App

#30

Post by thaumasiotes »

ghshephard wrote: post #8
dsl wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of today: Smartphones outsold feature phones for this first time ever in India. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/samsung-smartphones-outse... From my personal experiences, international countries that have smartphone adoption use Viber, and the feature phone countries use WhatsApp.

Singapore is a Smartphone country, but Whatsapp is pretty dominant there. (I didn't run into anyone who didn't use it as their primary messaging platform)

In China, it seems to be Wechat. I had never heard of WhatsApp.
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