Facebook to buy Whatsapp for $16-billion - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Rathji · 02-20-2014, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Do both people need whatsapp to communicate?

Not sure what you are asking, but in my case, I have a few friends that have a nerd chat for board/card games we play. We use this system because texting everyone is a lot more cumbersome and sometimes people get left off from a text because whatever clients they are using only responds to the sender and not the group.

We need a solution with a persistent chat channel, so something like WhatsApp, or Hangout is our best.

RedMileDJ · 02-20-2014, 10:25 AM

I just started using GroupMe with a few coworkers. Much like using BBM group chat.

photon · 02-20-2014, 10:30 AM

Google is rumored to have been offering $10B

nfotiu · 02-20-2014, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

Not sure what you are asking, but in my case, I have a few friends that have a nerd chat for board/card games we play. We use this system because texting everyone is a lot more cumbersome and sometimes people get left off from a text because whatever clients they are using only responds to the sender and not the group.

We need a solution with a persistent chat channel, so something like WhatsApp, or Hangout is our best.

I am not very familiar with Whatsapp. Says you can txt people by their number without an sms plan. Can you txt any number from it without SMS, or only people who have whatsapp? If it is the former, I can very easily see the value, but if it is the latter, I am surprised it was able to gain so much momentum with so many similar offerings.

Daradon · 02-20-2014, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

Have you played Candy Crush? How could they not?

Heheh, while it can be addicting at points, I can't imagining ever spending a dime on these free games. I game close with one of them, but never did. So I get what he's saying.

For me, part of the fun and challenge is to see how well I can do without spending money. As for Candy Crush, you always get five new tries the next day anyway, so. I can't imagine wanting to play more than that anyway.

On the other hand I know how other people do things as well, and that's why these micro transaction games make so much money. When you're hitting people for 99 cents or 1.99 a pop, they don't realize how it adds up.

To clarify, I don't think the profits were half a bill, just that they brought in that much in revenue.

Rathji · 02-20-2014, 10:44 AM

You can send messages, within the WhatsApp application, to people with the only "account info" being their phone number. It doesn't use SMS/MMS, so it can't text directly to a device without the app. There is no username or password or anything associated with it, which makes it really simple to use, but it can only be used from that device as best as I can determine.

photon · 02-20-2014, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daradon

Heheh, while it can be addicting at points, I can't imagining ever spending a dime on these free games. I game close with one of them, but never did. So I get what he's saying.

I don't buy either, but with Candy Crush it wasn't just microtransactions, it was how the microtransactions were structured. Even just having the ability to buy retries, as soon as I saw that I knew they'd make sooo much money.

Daradon · 02-20-2014, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

I don't buy either, but with Candy Crush it wasn't just microtransactions, it was how the microtransactions were structured. Even just having the ability to buy retries, as soon as I saw that I knew they'd make sooo much money.

Agreed. Heard people get attached to that hammer too, often to find out it didn't help them as much as they needed, lol.

opendoor · 02-20-2014, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Why would someone use this over something like Google hangouts?

Better compatibility (I've heard Hangouts on iOS is junk) and no need to have a Google+ account for full features like there is with Hangouts. Personally I'd never use a messaging app that required me and anyone else I wanted to do a group chat with to sign up for a basically dormant social network to use it properly.

Azure · 02-20-2014, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Why would someone use this over something like Google hangouts?

Because not everyone in my contact list is my Google contact as well?

Azure · 02-20-2014, 01:52 PM

Google Hangouts is also stupid because not everyone that actually appears on it is available right at that instant.

On Whatsapp, you know if you have a Whatsapp contact show up, they will most likely instantly receive the message similar to how they would receive a SMS. Plus, it shows sent and delivered.

2nd checkmark means delivered, not read, which is also better than BBM.

Its simple, fast and it works. BBM is great too, but it was only available for Blackberry devices for the longest time, and the whole 'hey buddy, can I have your pin number' was a bit ridiculous. Whatsapp has been available on all platforms(including Nokia and other 'dated' OSes) for years. Plus, because it uses so little data to actually send and receive messages, they were able to make deals with European and Asian carriers to have it on the phones when the customers bought it without actually requiring a data plan. This allowed for a lot of international growth simply because it was a lot cheaper than unlimited SMS plans.

Most of us have unlimited SMS plans because North American has actually been ahead of the curve compared to European on Asian countries. Lots of people internationally can't get unlimited text messaging plans without paying through the nose. We pay through the nose too for the feature, but it isn't nearly as expensive compared to what overseas carriers sometimes charge.

Because of ALL that, Whatsapp grew like crazy overseas, and is still growing. Especially with the younger crowd. I know lots of people think its crazy paying that much for a simple messaging app, but you have to also realize that it actually costs $.99/year to use Whatsapp. Originally in order to control growth, Whatsapp kept switching to a paid model in order to not grow as fast but they found out people will still pay the subscription simply because the app works do darn well. I realize that not everyone actually pays the subscription since Whatsapp will extend your service for another year automatically if you don't pay, but even if half pay, that is $200 million in revenue per YEAR for a company that had 50 employees till now and does zero marketing and zero sales.

Phanuthier · 02-20-2014, 02:46 PM

$16 Billion dollars... I worked for National Semiconductor and we were acquired for 6..... mind still blown.

DOOM · 02-20-2014, 03:48 PM

My friends and I use WhatsApp daily, we have a couple groups, easy to talk with each other/plan things.

MickMcGeough · 02-20-2014, 09:14 PM

The usefulness/design/originality of the app itself really has very little/nothing to do with the exit value.

albertGQ · 02-20-2014, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

Have you played Candy Crush? How could they not?

Unfortunately not. I'd rather surf CP. lol

Temporary_User · 02-20-2014, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

You know how annoying it is to send a file/link to yourself in email just to copy and paste it into WhatsApp? I would gladly have a PC client or browser plugin be a premium feature, and pay a few bucks a year extra for it.

Sounds like Pushbullet is the app you need. Its awesome

Rathji · 02-21-2014, 05:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

Sounds like Pushbullet is the app you need. Its awesome

So it juts sends notifications to my desktop, but doesn't let me respond, right? Thats useful, I guess. Does it give me the entire message? Can I send one back? If you still have to pick up your phone to read our respond to the message, what's the point?

Galakanokis · 02-21-2014, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

So it juts sends notifications to my desktop, but doesn't let me respond, right? Thats useful, I guess. Does it give me the entire message? Can I send one back? If you still have to pick up your phone to read our respond to the message, what's the point?

Push Bullet will only display the notification, I don't think it even has that much info in it. I mainly use Push Bullet to share things between PC/phone/tablet. Easy way to send links or files.

I don't think there is anything out there that will completely sync your phone and PC the way you are talking. Mighty Text works great for text messages on the tablet or PC but that is all it does. Honestly if Hangouts could do SMS on the PC or tablet it would be great.

Never used Whatsapp or anything else. Most people I talk to about it just say why don't you text me than if that is all the program really does. Hangouts work for any sort of free messaging I need to do.

Azure · 02-21-2014, 04:50 PM

Apparently WeChat has annual revenue of over a billion dollars in China with only 250 million users. Crazy high profit margins too.

Not that crazy to see where Facebook sees potential value in Whatsapp.

Phanuthier · 02-21-2014, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure

Apparently WeChat has annual revenue of over a billion dollars in China with only 250 million users. Crazy high profit margins too.

Not that crazy to see where Facebook sees potential value in Whatsapp.

$19 Billion..... thats the entire USA budget for 2 days, cost of 2 Hubble space telescope, an olympic games + clean water and sanitation for the world....