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Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
It's more than NASA's budget.
This is the one that hurts the most.
So wait. Facebook paid $19 Billion for Whatsapp? 19 BILLION?!
- Thread starter ronito
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This is the one that hurts the most.
It has been out for a long time.
apocalidiot
Banned
Why is this not popular in the US?
Its not stupid, and they must be aware that ils money they are not going to get back, but Whatsapp has a huge userbase that increases rapidly, so they could eventually start adding features that would be direct competition to Facebook, they have the users to do it. So is more Facebook protecting itself kinda like when they bought Instagram
SJRB
Gold Member
On its current course of 1 dollar a year subscription Whatsapp needs 2.5 billion users to make any form of profit. This is six times more than the current userbase of 450 million. Needless to say this is impossible, so I wonder what Facebook is up to. They must have a plan for all of this.
Because we get charged for all outgoing and incoming SMS texts, and that's the way we like it.
KernelPanic
Member
WhatsApp is awesome.
Every other chat/text program feels clunky in comparison. Best thing about it is it's cross platform.
Every other chat/text program feels clunky in comparison. Best thing about it is it's cross platform.
SneakyStephan
Banned
Slayer-33
Liverpool-2
I wouldn't say that.
All it takes is some friends liking this and getting you to use the software. Your contacts are your phone numbers. I wouldn't say impossible at all.
Any software developers here that are familiar with whatsapp's nature?
How difficult was it for them to develop all the features in this thing? Specifically the contacts via phone number deal?
The most popular international messaging app on smartphones.
Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp is an interesting move. The high price is almost certainly a result of multiple bidders, and given Facebook's past mobile failures, it remains to be seen whether they can transform WhatsApp into a huge money maker for the company.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/09/facebook-to-acquire-instagram-for-1-billion/
http://newsroom.fb.com/News/805/Facebook-to-Acquire-WhatsApp
Facebook have realized that in order to remain the leader, they must buy their way into popularity. It sounds simple, but it's the only way they'll avoid a MySpace scenario.
Whatsapp has over 400 million users at last count and they have done little to capitalize on it. Facebook thinks they are capable of making this company much more profitable, and based on their methods of generating revenue that's probably true. Whatapp has international popularity in parts of the world where Facebook has doesn't have much presence, and they could make a lot more money if they succeeded in merging those users.
I'm not interested in this as a user, I like Whatsapp's simplicity and I don't want anything to do with Facebook or its integration, but they are acquiring a staggering user base that could be very valuable in the hands of a company that knows how to squeeze money out of it. I don't know if it's worth $19 billion, but it shouldn't be surprising that they see an extremely popular product as a lucrative investment.
DragonSworne
Banned
Yea, this thing is not popular among my social group in the US.
Of the 400 contacts I have the only people using it are the ones with overseas family.
There's huge room for growth in the US for whatsapp but it's going to need a lot of old habits to be broken in order to do so.
Of the 400 contacts I have the only people using it are the ones with overseas family.
There's huge room for growth in the US for whatsapp but it's going to need a lot of old habits to be broken in order to do so.
Ether_Snake
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Advertising, data mining.
I don't think they think they can make it profitable, at least not to the tune of $19 billion+inflation. Like it was said previously, it was a ransom, especially since there was a bidding war with Google. Whatsapp was capable of stealing all of its users and not trying to make much money off them with low fees and no ads (easy to support with so few employees). This purchase takes a competitor out of the market, and Facebook is flush with shares to pay for it.
terrisus
Member
Not trying to "be cheeky" or "ridiculous."
If anyone is interested in "instant communication," a phone call or talking to the person directly is the best way to go. Anything aside from that is just trying to make up for the shortcomings of not doing that.
Ah crap, I figured I'd try this out so my son can text me at work but it's not designed to work on tablets. There's a work around that requires rooting but I'd rather not go that route on his tablet. Anyone know of a good low battery consumption text program that you can install on phones and tablets? We're both using the same google log in so purchased games can be used on either.
freshlylickedcat
Banned
Pingoreous
Member
They protecting themselves and people concentrate on $19 Billion. They didn't give them $19 billion cash money, they get that mostly in stock options. You know make believe money with questionable liquidity.
Ether_Snake
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Also in such situations, it is likely that employee payment was possible as a result of offers during the app's earlier days (not at the beginning of course, but later). So at first they get venture capital money, then they show the offers in order to get more funding to continue to support themselves until finally they have offers big enough to sell. You don't need to actually be able to pay your employees as a result of the app, you just need to be able to show private investors that your app is attracting a lot of attention and that the offers are rising to keep getting funding.
terrisus
Member
AIM? Yahoo? Any of those various programs that have been around for a decade or two?
freshlylickedcat
Banned
That is a profoundly obtuse thing to say. They're getting $4B in cash, $12B in stocks--which they can sell tomorrow for cash if they desired to, and only $3B in restricted stock.
Actually it's a pretty interesting question...
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
It's a play for developing markets. Whatsapp is the way to be front and center as people start getting phones in Africa, rural India and China, etc.
Indrid Cold1
Member
Jeez the squirming here is embarrassing.
terrisus
Member
What squirming? And over what?
Pingoreous
Member
Yeah they have to move $12B worth of stock of a company that's losing users. Again am just pointing out that in real money its $4B and not $19B. You can argue the viability of stock options till infinity. Dumping $12B in stock would not look good for Facebook if you wanted to do so.
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Deleted member 20920
Unconfirmed Member
Does AIM and Yahoo have mobile/tablet APPs?
It's always good to have alternate options. There are times when you can't call or not want to spend money paying overseas charges.
What's app allows you to do instant messaging and media sending (as long as the audio/video/picture file is less than 10 MB I think) over data or wifi at no additional charges. You get to save on SMS charges. It works as well, sometimes even faster than the standard SMS send and receive time and the server is mostly online and rarely encounters any downtime. It allows people to create chat groups easily. It's pretty much fuss and frills free and easy to use. It has no ads.
It's one thing to criticise something for its shortcomings and another to just go "but what about just calling?"
ElfArmy177
Member
So wait... in order to use it the person you are trying to contact must have Whatsapp installed first? sounds pointless unless I got every person I know to download it... or am I missing something?
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Deleted member 20920
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Yes, both parties need the APP to communicate, like many other programs and apps.
Slayer-33
Liverpool-2
You can send out a link to the app/play store easily.
The program is pretty straightforward, most people would covert if they give it a shot.
Group chat, send all sorts of information extremely fast with confirmation. I love it so much. I hope they don't screw it up when they grab a hold of more subs.
Ok, somebody want to give me a basic rundown of what exactly is whatsapp?
I need to get into app game. There's money out there to make.
EDIT-
Sorry for being lazy. I did the work myself.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
Seems useless for me.
I need to get into app game. There's money out there to make.
EDIT-
Sorry for being lazy. I did the work myself.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
Seems useless for me.
freshlylickedcat
Banned
You don't dump it all at once, obviously. The holders of the $12B in stock wouldn't care if selling makes FB looks bad or else they wouldn't choose to sell. That stock will probably be worth much more than $12B in a couple years.
ElfArmy177
Member
Thats like trying to get my family who plays COD over to World of Warcraft... it never works. Useless for me, but cool otherwise I suppose. Have fun with it guys
Yes, but...every person I know uses it. It's pretty much the standard to text on phones here (Germany).
Yes, it does, and that's the secret to its success: it combines the strengths of texting and internet IM into one service.
1) Just like texting, there's no need to register e-mail accounts, to remember passwords nor to add friends.
2) Just like internet-based IM, you don't pay per message and can exchange messages with anyone anywhere in the world using your wifi or mobile internet connection.
For many people it's "free SMS over wifi", which I'm sure it's instant install in many countries where SMS is exploitatively expensive (many places charge for long distance and international SMS).
Plus, there are other added benefits:
- You can send photos, videos and audio (SMS can do it too, but it's often even more expensive and you often need to sign up for additional services).
- It shows if and when a message was viewed. No more guessing whether someone ever got that SMS or not.
- You can also create "groups": send a message to a group and everyone receives it and vice-versa. This is incredibly useful and impossible via SMS.
Yes, but Whatsapp shows whether the person has it installed or not. If they don't have it installed, it can send them a SMS asking them to install it. Also, Whatsapp has apps for virtually every mobile OS out there, even S40 Java phones (and it's constantly updated!), so virtually any cellphone with 3G and/or wifi capability can run Whatsapp.
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Deleted member 20920
Unconfirmed Member
Thats like trying to get my family who plays COD over to World of Warcraft... it never works. Useless for me, but cool otherwise I suppose. Have fun with it guys
It's really easy once you get someone to install it. Even my parents, who barely knows how their smartphone works beyond using them to call, text and take photos, are converted recently after seeing how some of their friends are using it to send them pictures, videos and music. They don't even know what APPs are.
One more advantage that I missed is that it doesn't matter what phone or which country the user is in. It's compatible across OSs and countries.
$100 per user is ridiculously overvalued
It seemed ridiculously overpriced to me, and then I read this post from Yglesias, and thought it was over priced and short sighted.
Once text and data start being charged at the same rate, the benefit of using it to get around texting limits goes away, and they're left with a bunch of people to sell ads to. I just don't see how that's worth $19b.
Slayer-33
Liverpool-2
Thats like trying to get my family who plays COD over to World of Warcraft... it never works. Useless for me, but cool otherwise I suppose. Have fun with it guys
What's the other alternative?
Texting is vastly inferior
And I did say it before in a the topic discussing the purchase of the app by fb.. They paid waaaay too much imo. As much as I preach my love for the app.
terrisus
Member
Pretty sure they do.
If not, I know that Trillian does, which provides the functionality of serveral messengers in one (including AIM and Yahoo)
I'm still not seeing what it's doing that hasn't been possible with other programs for ages (aside from the no ads thing I guess)
When someone says that it's the best thing for instant communication, I figure it's fair game to point out there are other methods which are much better at it.
Why would I start using SMS again? It's terrible in comparison. I also don't get how they could charge the same. Messages are byte-size in data, a Megabyte would be a couple dollars.
Aquamarine
Member
I agree, especially when some youth are gravitating towards other, simpler services (Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) and keeping their Facebook around as a necessity instead of a desired hangout space.
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