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WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

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Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#71

Post by pjc50 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #62
pjc50 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of those description, whatsapp is the one that's actually the classic "how capitalism is supposed to work": provide a comparable or better service for a lower price. Amazon's era of sales tax evasion is mostly over. And if anyone is monetising copyright infringement it's not Google (who are somewhat conscientious about this after some lawsuits) but Tumblr (literally made of copyright infringing photos)

You mean the Sears-Roebuck era of tax evasion.

I meant something very specific: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/24/the-holiday-is-over-amazon-w...

(The era of Amazon posting things from Jersey to UK and other destinations for similar reasons ended ages ago)

I was also restricting myself to the question of sales taxes; tax evasion/avoidance among the internet tech monoliths is a wider question.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#72

Post by gumby »

> “Images tell a much better story than text,” he says. “And videos tell a much better story than images.

Seems like the evidence of WhatsApp itself, not to mention my own experience, is directly contradictory to this.

A video is rarely preferable to an image, and an image is rarely preferable to a bit of text.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#73

Post by 7ewis »

Sorry but I don't agree with the statistic of the Status feature.

> the company announced that 250 million people—a quarter of all members—were using it daily

Just had a quick look, and I have around 150 contacts on WhatsApp (mainly the Snapchat/Instagram users age group) and not a single person has set one of these photo statuses right now. I only ever recall seeing one once, since the feature launched.

If I open up Snapchat/Instagram I will literally see hundreds. Unless it's become very popular within a certain country, or another age group I find it hard to believe that it's reached anywhere near the size of Snapchat's user base.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#74

Post by wyager »

coldtea wrote: post #56
wyager wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Privatize the gains, socialize the losses" is undeniably a lucrative business strategy, but it's not one I particularly want to celebrate. This doesn't describe anything that AirBnB or Uber are doing. Taxis were expensive and horrible because governments created artificial scarcity via taxi medallion systems. They were "socializing the gains", to build off your aphorism. Uber re-privatized the gains by circumventi…

> Uber re-privatized the gains by circumventing this ridiculous system, and we're all much better for it. Who are those all? Taxi drivers or the general public? I'd rather have professional, decently paid, taxi drivers instead of amateur hour weekend drivers making minimum wage at the expense of yet another working class job.

Did you ever use a taxi before uber? Nothing you said is grounded in reality. Taxi drivers are usually extremely unprofessional, underpaid, and horrific drivers. It's actually gotten much better since Uber came around.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#75

Post by wyager »

wpietri wrote: post #51
wyager wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Privatize the gains, socialize the losses" is undeniably a lucrative business strategy, but it's not one I particularly want to celebrate. This doesn't describe anything that AirBnB or Uber are doing. Taxis were expensive and horrible because governments created artificial scarcity via taxi medallion systems. They were "socializing the gains", to build off your aphorism. Uber re-privatized the gains by circumventi…

Taxis were mostly horrible because of pre-mobile-phone dispatch systems and expectations. That would have gotten fixed with or without Uber, although Uber certainly did push it along. But taxi medallion systems served a number of purposes. One of the big ones is reasonable regulation of taxi and driver quality. Another was keeping supply and demand balanced at a level where people didn't have to cut corners on things…

> One of the big ones is reasonable regulation of taxi and driver quality.

I can only imagine that someone who rarely or never travels would say something like this. The main reason I switched to uber is that taxis are universally horrible, both in terms of drivers and vehicles. It's gotten much better since uber forced them to compete, but they still generally suck.

So maybe you're right, and that was the reason for taxi medallions; but guess what? It didn't work.

> Uber has shifted capital and maintenance costs entirely away from cab companies and on to random people desperate enough to drive for Uber.

Again, this is something that I can't imagine hearing from someone who actually uses Ubers on a regular basis. Most Uber drivers I've talked to love the platform, and a good portion of them are e.g. students working a side job, none of them "desperate" people.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#76

Post by fat-chunk »

7ewis wrote: post #73

Sorry but I don't agree with the statistic of the Status feature. > the company announced that 250 million people—a quarter of all members—were using it daily Just had a quick look, and I have around 150 contacts on WhatsApp (mainly the Snapchat/Instagram users age group) and not a single person has set one of these photo statuses right now. I only ever recall seeing one once, since the feature launched. If I open up…

Are you in the States? I have heard that Whatsapp is much more popular outside the US.

I live in the UK and everyone I know uses Whatsapp as their main method of communication while Snapchat activity seems to have dropped very quickly, perhaps in favour of Instagram, in my experience anyway.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#77

Post by hammock »

fwdpropaganda wrote: post #66
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your list is preposterous. Even if you take all your other items at face value, you make it sound like "circumventing cellphone texting charges" is breaking the law or something, as if ridiculous texting charges are set up for the good of anyone besides big telcos.

It's not preposterous, it's exactly right. SMS text messages were a something like $15bn industry before whatsapp got between them and the customers, and that has value.

What about imessage?

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#78

Post by coldtea »

wyager wrote: post #74
coldtea wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber re-privatized the gains by circumventing this ridiculous system, and we're all much better for it. Who are those all? Taxi drivers or the general public? I'd rather have professional, decently paid, taxi drivers instead of amateur hour weekend drivers making minimum wage at the expense of yet another working class job.

Did you ever use a taxi before uber? Nothing you said is grounded in reality. Taxi drivers are usually extremely unprofessional, underpaid, and horrific drivers. It's actually gotten much better since Uber came around.

>Did you ever use a taxi before uber?

Almost every day.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#79

Post by pjc50 »

coldtea wrote: post #78
wyager wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you ever use a taxi before uber? Nothing you said is grounded in reality. Taxi drivers are usually extremely unprofessional, underpaid, and horrific drivers. It's actually gotten much better since Uber came around.

> Did you ever use a taxi before uber? Almost every day.

People really need to specify a geographical context for discussions of Uber; I've no doubt that wyager and coldtea are both reporting their experiences, but taxis are necessarily a very local service. Clearly some cities just have really bad taxis.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder on How It Reached 1.3B Users Without Losing Its Focus

#80

Post by helloindia »

hammock wrote: post #77
fwdpropaganda wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not preposterous, it's exactly right. SMS text messages were a something like $15bn industry before whatsapp got between them and the customers, and that has value.

What about imessage?

Only on iOS. Doesn't have the same impact as WhatsApp.
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