Introducing Worldwide SMS Messaging • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Worldwide SMS Messaging

#61

Post by shostack » Thu, Jun 30, 2016, 8:15 PM UTC

dforrestwilson wrote: post #43

jonknee wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering that Twilio hosts with AWS, that will be a tough price war for Twilio to win.

Can we contrast the aggressive Amazon platform vs customer dynamic with other cloud providers? Why would a new company opt for Amazon at the risk of being copied and competed with as we're seeing with Netflix, Twilio, and numerous Amazon store vendors? Why not go with Google or Microsoft?

I wonder if/how AWS data might be used to inform decisions Amazon makes about breaking into other markets.

Re: Introducing Worldwide SMS Messaging

#62

Post by cyberferret » Thu, Jun 30, 2016, 8:32 PM UTC

rikthevik wrote: post #28

cyberferret wrote: post #5

Excellent news - I have been waiting for this for a while. NOTE: Seems to be having issues sending SMSs to Australian mobile numbers - I've been tweaking and sending on the dashboard for a while now and nothing is coming through. Never mind - early days yet. Am surprised at the cost differences between countries too - seems to be a lot more expensive than other third part SMS services I am using at the moment. (Compa…

What other SMS services are you using? Those prices are really good for the US!

Oh, the US pricing is incredibly good. It is the overseas carriers that are a problem (especially here in Australia). The international pricing is 2x to 4x the price of some of the popular third party SMS service providers.

Re: Introducing Worldwide SMS Messaging

#63

Post by skc » Thu, Jun 30, 2016, 11:05 PM UTC

I'm surprised at the variability of pricing by different vendors in this space. I would have imagined they would all be competing on breadth of API rather than price.

An SMS to a number on a particular network provider should cost pretty much the same for all Messaging Platform Providers originating from the same countries.

Re: Introducing Worldwide SMS Messaging

#64

Post by biot » Fri, Jul 01, 2016, 6:08 AM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #58

biot wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of CPU and bandwidth to process 160 byte messages is a rounding error compared to the fees from the mobile networks.

It is, but AWS is all about making money on rounding errors. How long before Amazon starts letting to place and receive calls?

You said "considering that Twilio hosts with AWS" as if that's the competitive disadvantage they face vs. Amazon. However, their cost structure would be the same if they hosted on Azure, Google Cloud, Rackspace, or anywhere else. So yes, Amazon may compete on price but I'm not seeing how Twilio being on AWS factors into it given that they need to incur server hosting costs somewhere.

Re: Introducing Worldwide SMS Messaging

#65

Post by sleepyhead » Fri, Jul 01, 2016, 9:18 AM UTC

takeda wrote: post #60

sleepyhead wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, there are already plenty of other services to be used to send SMS to your phone.

So adding yet one more with competitive pricing won't do anything? I thought same thing as the parent when I started reading blog entry. Especially the part where opt-in requirement was removed.

No, lots of alternatives already. And given the more complex AWS Console and documentation compared to alternatives I don't think it will make much difference to whether someone who wants to start spamming your phone will think "ah yes since I can now send SMS with AWS now is the time to start spamming"

Re: Introducing Worldwide SMS Messaging

#66

Post by eldavido » Fri, Jul 01, 2016, 7:00 PM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #48

eldavido wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twilio's cost structure is probably dominated by SMS charges from telco operators and customer acquisition, not their AWS bill. So I doubt it, but feel free to cite data that shows I'm wrong. (I read their s-1 and I don't think it got into that granularity of cost accounting)

But they also spend a bundle with AWS... Amazon can reach the same pricing with the telcos, but will have lower infrastructure costs. Twilio would honestly be a good acquisition for AWS, but maybe Bezos feels like doing it himself.

Isn't Twilio's gross margin like 50%?

I think it's a market where winning is about customer acquisition and retention, not necessary cost-control, though I'll grant that could become more important over time.