21–30 of 86 posts
When is Android to iOS end-to-end encryption coming? Since they aren't relying on ads, then they shouldn't need to rely on data-mining private conversations either.
>Have you considered the alternative? Yes and they are better. i'm using Hangouts, Telegram and Line... why should I use WhatsApp? These App all have more functionalities and are "free".
It's not "alternative to whatsapp", it's "alternative app monetization strategy".
When is Android to iOS end-to-end encryption coming? Since they aren't relying on ads, then they shouldn't need to rely on data-mining private conversations either.
how is it end to end when data is stored on their servers, i would assume its stored without encryption right?
I'm wondering why did facebook buy WhatsApp? Oh, maybe to get better data from us to sell... yeah, Ads.
I suspect it's because WhatsApp's backend can be turned into a platform that will run WhatsApp itself as well as Facebook Messenger. There's a lot more opportunity to do messaging between businesses and individuals (eg. customer service) as well -- see messenger for business. Not saying Facebook isn't out to sell ads, just that there's probably a lot of reasons that Facebook might want WhatsApp's technology and team.…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why Telegram and not Signal/TextSecure?
They don't have a Desktop client.
>Have you considered the alternative? Yes and they are better. i'm using Hangouts, Telegram and Line... why should I use WhatsApp? These App all have more functionalities and are "free".
My general take is that if you need advertising to monetise your product, then maybe your product isn't as good as you think it is. Most newspapers are a good example of this, if you need a ton of ads on your website to make money, maybe your not doing a good enough job providing news that people are willing to pay for. As service become more and more depended on ads, the quality of the product starts to take a back seat and in the end you end up with click bait.
Google might be an exception, they seem to have found a mix that people can live with, or perhaps they're just really good at hiding ads in plain sight.
I'm wondering why did facebook buy WhatsApp? Oh, maybe to get better data from us to sell... yeah, Ads.
I've always considered it as a defensive play rather than a positive one - Facebook have this beautifully well-entrenched network effect that defends their position - their unique selling point is that they know the world's social graph, and it's terribly difficult for anybody else to try to build that data as long as Facebook provides an acceptable alternative to any new communication medium, because it's always going to be easier to engage with your friends on a platform they already use.
In WhatsApp's case, though, Facebook screwed up - they didn't offer a mobile messaging service that was convincing enough to take the easy victory that their position should have given them in that market, and that chink in their armour let WhatsApp build a social graph and a toehold in the space that could have made them a true competitor, so Facebook paid to make the mistake go away.
>Have you considered the alternative? Yes and they are better. i'm using Hangouts, Telegram and Line... why should I use WhatsApp? These App all have more functionalities and are "free".
If only hangouts was more like the good old google talk. Line is starting to look like a social network, same with Kakao. I don't want stickers i just want no frills messaging.
Whatsapp prides itself as being like SMS, and that's exactly what i want, but without the expensive SMS rates(for us from Africa & Asia)
I'm wondering why did facebook buy WhatsApp? Oh, maybe to get better data from us to sell... yeah, Ads.
I suspect it's because WhatsApp's backend can be turned into a platform that will run WhatsApp itself as well as Facebook Messenger. There's a lot more opportunity to do messaging between businesses and individuals (eg. customer service) as well -- see messenger for business. Not saying Facebook isn't out to sell ads, just that there's probably a lot of reasons that Facebook might want WhatsApp's technology and team.…
It's the messaging app that the most people are using. It's used for updating groups of friends, sharing photos and all the other stuff that Facebook needs to be The Place for. It also has a simple, organic-ish mole for deciding who sees what and when that intuitively makes sense to people. IE, you don't have to twiddle with circle settings to find the nexus of friend-work and professional-friend that should see your message. Instead it just has groups that start out as "who wants to watch the fight at the bar" and sometimes people keep posting to them.
Whatsapp could have pivoted or been acquired for directly competing with Facebook.
I do actually find their monetization strategy laudable. Selling your product to users is, in my view, a far more ethical monetization strategy than selling your users to advertisers, and tends to result in far less potential conflicts of interest. That said, I also believe communication in general is too important to be left to proprietary software, which is why I won't be using WhatsApp anytime soon.
Even if you could run this app by charging users just 50c, it would fail and get beat by an app that was free.