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Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

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Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#791

Post by tracker1 »

AznHisoka wrote: post #760
zanny wrote: post #543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll shake my first and one day see people using open standards protocols rather than this morass of proprietary dribble. Until then, I'm marginally lonely on my xmpp clients, though the facebook integration really helps.

Trillian! Seriously...ok, I get that these apps like WhatsApp, Viper got tons of users, but please don't give me no BS about them innovating. Trillian solved that problem a long long long long time ago.

I used to really like Trillian, iirc even payed for it once upon a time, but haven't used it in forever... most of my family and a lot of my friends are all on FB, so I check there once in a while.. anyone else will SMS/text me.

If anything, I think I've used google hangouts than most of the other IM platforms lately.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#792

Post by foobarian »

russell_h wrote: post #661
shubhamjain wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it was the de facto messaging app across the world? Is there any particular reason why it is not used much in US?

By the time smartphones were widely adopted in the US, SMS already had massive market penetration. Trying to adopt something else when your entire social network already uses SMS is a losing game. This is why, IMO, Apple, Google and Facebook are the only companies really in a position to change the messaging game in the US. There is space for newcomers (see: Snapchat), but they're going to have to work hard to spread…

The problem with what Google or Facebook do is that deep down I know it's going to be integrated into their main product, and I won't be able to use it without sharing my real name and friends and everything else tied to the account. Or it will make me create an account, pick yet another password, fill out a profile, yadda yadda. Just thinking about it makes me sleepy.

Why can't it just be simple? Get the app and pick a phone number to message. The SMS situation is so bad that it's got a giant flashing neon sign "Disrupt me please" all over it yet none of the big players are stepping up.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#793

Post by balladeer »

guelo wrote: post #524
nullspace wrote: post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a very good point, even if you don't immediately realize the deeper implications. :) In India, you generally pay per text message - so if you can convince even 3 of your close friends to start using Whatsapp, you save (say) 20% of your phone bill. Here in US, if you are going to send more than a few texts a month, you are going to be paying 20 USD. So there is no real monetary incentive (initially) for you an…

So why didn't Indian telecoms implement all-you-can-eat messaging to stop the erosion of users moving to WhatsApp?

The number of WhatsApp users in India is still infinitely less than the plain vanilla SMS people. Specially the ones living in villages which is a huge majority with a huger margin.

We also have SMS packs like 100 SMS a month by paying Rs 40 or so. But a DoT rule (which was actually twisted and misinterpreted by telecos) make that plan ineffective on any festive day and on those days you pay for each SMS and the rate is almost double or x3 or sometime x4 of what you would have paid without the SMS pack :-)

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#794

Post by balladeer »

movingahead wrote: post #618
guelo wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why didn't Indian telecoms implement all-you-can-eat messaging to stop the erosion of users moving to WhatsApp?

They did for prices ranging from $1 - $2 per month. But text messaging does not do groups remotely as well as Whatsapp does.

You can use it do group thing but then every message sent to group will charged as: cost of one SMS x number of users in the group.

That charge will come to each user of the group whenever a message (%160 chars) is sent.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#795

Post by balladeer »

martinml wrote: post #259
robbiep wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you mean $1 once when they first install it? the 'pay this amount' was a well known scam message

That changed. The app is now[0] free and it's $1/year, in every platform. [0]: http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/20/3787472/whatsapp-for-ios-...

That's just free to download. You still pay per year fee.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#796

Post by balladeer »

varenc wrote: post #63
jljljl wrote: post #19

http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2012/06/why-we-dont-sell-...

according the WhatsApp blog, its going to be staying ad-free. http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2014/02/facebook/

Of course! Facebook is not interested in putting ads in WhatsApp streams. It shall instead take our data to advertisers. The easy way.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#797

Post by balladeer »

vanessarp wrote: post #787
slazaro wrote: post #698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Spain, SMS was also the main way of communicating with mobile phones (pre- and post-smartphone). The benefit of WhatsApp was that you didn't have to move to a different "social network" with usernames and stuff, it just used your contact list, and that it didn't cost anything besides your internet connection. So if someone had WhatsApp, you used that, otherwise you texted them through SMS. You almost end up avoidi…

In Spain everyone uses it, from 12 to 60 years old. My mother in low just wanted a smartphone to have Whatsapp. The new trend is Telegram though...

Really? Telegram is a trend? In India I doubt many people even heard about it.

I think I will give it a serious thought if it open sources its code base or otherwise it's as good as Viber or Line as an alternative. Same goes with helm.is.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#798

Post by balladeer »

gbog wrote: post #666
nolok wrote: post #654

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some countries use Line rather than WhatsApp

Or WeChat, which is quite big in China.

KakaoTalk is not even mentioned. It's one of the biggest player and probably more famous than anything in S Korea.

ChatOn has some userbase too.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#799

Post by balladeer »

patrickk wrote: post #367
sschueller wrote: post #135

So, now can we get someone to make an open source, distributed, and NSA secure chat client?

http://mashable.com/2013/07/10/hemlis/ NSA proof messaging app from the co-founder of the pirate bay. The website says they will open source it, however it only runs on their infrastructure.

They said they will open source parts of it. And as long as there's not an alternative that you can install it yourself along with their main server installation - like XMPP - the risk will always be there. So, as now Viber seems to be a better alternative than Helmis.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#800

Post by argumentum »

pa5tabear wrote: post #769
argumentum wrote: post #407

To everyone calling this symptomatic of a "bubble", remember that WhatsApp was not hyped like SnapChat or Instagram. It wasn't associated with "sexting" or plugged by Celebrities. A few years ago, my cousin arrived from India to start undergrad here .. when picking out her new smartphone, here was only one requirement: it had to run WhatsApp. She didn't care whether it was an iPhone, android or blackberry (back when…

What was the timing for the html5 vs native decisions and corrections? I'm assuming you're talking about the mobile applications running slowly for the first few years. I uninstalled a year ago and haven't checked back. I'm curious how things run these days. And is the debate mainly focused on when webapps will take over? Or is it debated if it will occur at all? I think with mobile hardware gaining so quickly we sho…

A company like Facebook has the resources to build whatever type of app is justified by the current market. If and when HTML5 gains parity with native apps, which I also agree will happen, Facebook can go back to HTML5.

But tech moves quick, you can't just wait around for a fundamental shift like that. You have to build for now and plan for later, in my opinion.

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