Don't both iPhone and Android have built in alternatives that just use the network? A brief search showed iPhone had one. SMS as a carrier service is so yesterday.
On Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 12:54 PM, Christopher Koch <christop...@reiswerk.de>wrote: > 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>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 >
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