Sorry to barge in like this, I've been just a lurker on this list for years. Here I am writing something.
WhatsApp is very popular in Germany/Europe. On my last trip over there I finally had to get it, too, just to communicate with friends and family. Facebook paid way too much money. The whole thing seems to be a flop for Facebook though: I've been seeing campaigns -- ironically, on Facebook -- for deletion of WhatsApp because of "privacy concerns." Seems it's already too late for that anyway, and the advised replacement is Threema or in some rare instances telegram.org. On 02/22/2014 11:07 AM, Owen Densmore wrote: > Here's a good clip on the deal: > > WhatsApp has garnered over 450 million monthly active users globally > with 70% active on any given day, higher than the 62% engagement rate > Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB > <http://www.valuewalk.com/stock-data/?stock_symbol=NASDAQ:FB>) reported last > quarter. It facilitates more than 19 billion sent messages and 34 > billion received messages daily (a single message can be sent to > multiple people), which, according to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB > <http://www.valuewalk.com/stock-data/?stock_symbol=NASDAQ:FB>), is > similar to the size of the entire global SMS market. WhatsApp's > capabilities go well beyond text messages, with more than 600 million > photos uploaded per day and more than 200 million voice messages and > 100 million video messages sent per day. > > > On Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 11:04 AM, Owen Densmore <o...@backspaces.net > <mailto:o...@backspaces.net>> wrote: > > The WhatsApp/FaceBook deal was a surprise for me, I simply wasn't > hip enough to even *know* about WhatsApp. > > Well, it turns out its a replacement for SMS. We folks in the US > don't use SMS which originated in the cellular system early on as > a way to get all of the third world able to message *very* > cheaply, thus have a reason to *buy* a cell phone. That's not the > case here, SMS is an expensive monthly or $.25 each. USA. Sigh. > > So for what its worth, WhatsApp sneakily changed the SMS madness > (virtually free for cellular carriers due to using 180 free bytes > in the control channel but heck why not rip off customers) by > making "messages" free. > > Interesting. So the entire world can now give the finger to slimy > cellular providers, but at the cost of joining yet another > "service" with all your personal information. Oh well, who cares. > > Even more clever, FB figured out that this would greatly enhance > its service. Be nice to see how they plan to integrate it into > FB, but still, at around 16Billion$. Basically they look at this > as capturing the world wide cellular network. > > Apparently WhatsApp and FB have very different ideas on privacy. > I bet the worst one wins. > > Naturally anything this big is going to be the cyberslime magnet, > gold medal target. Cant wait for the first billion user leak. > And no, passwords won't help. Not sure even about 2-factor. > > -- Owen > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
