Facebook to buy Whatsapp for $19 billion.

[jagec]

Off you go then. Set up a messaging service. You seem to think that other services having 100s of millions more users isn't a problem. You should do well.

It isn't about a messaging service. The original point that was made is that the company's only real asset is its userbase, which was valued at $42 each. You seem to think that this is reasonable, but not only has every single successful tech company seen a similar explosion in its userbase, proving that new ideas will thrive despite their humble origins, but Facebook already HAS a huge userbase. They don't need to buy more users at some exorbitant price. Furthermore, Facebook already has a mobile app, and messaging. Maybe they're not as integrated as the other guys, but clearly Whatsup's IP isn't entirely unique or novel. And it's difficult to say that an app whose only function is to send messages over the internet can support an increase in prices, when most people think that messages should be free, and the technology to do so is firmly in place.

Therefore, it's hard to say exactly what Whatsapp is bringing to the table here. Remember ICQ? They had a pretty big userbase back in the day. Where are they now? People have moved on to other methods of sending messages to each other.

 

[KlokWyze]

FB is already stagnating. Growth is in instagram, which will have a ridiculous IPO and then stagnate.

Investors, hedgefund managers are all suckers to sell bogus investments too. Just bribe them to buy your shit, drive up pseudo speculation demand, etc., etc.

 

[WelshBloke]

but Facebook already HAS a huge userbase. They don't need to buy more users at some exorbitant price. Furthermore, Facebook already has a mobile app, and messaging.

But many more people use WhatsApp than use Facebook messenger and WhatsApps user base is growing quicker.

Basically the messenger that's going to "win" is the one that gets the most users the quickest and Facebook thinks that it's important to win this.
They, presumably, have a butt ton of user data that shows the importance of messenger use to a social networking site.

 

[cronos]

Really? I have been using it for over a year on Android and never noticed any mention of payment.

For Android it's $0.99/year starting the 2nd year. Sometimes there's a glitch that gives you an extra few months, and some people reported a way to 'cheat' the system by factory resetting and restoring an earlier backup so the timer goes back (or something similar to that, I haven't tried myself). Either way, go to Settings - Account - Payment info and you'll see when your current subscription expires.

Also, Whatsapp 'account' is based on your phone number, so if at any point you switched to a different number, the timer starts over.

 

[BoberFett]

I must no longer be in the "in" crowd. No one I know, young or old, has heard of this $17B app.

PS. They just want it for more data on you.

I started using it initially because I was SMSing with a friend of mine via her company phone, and her boss was asking who she was texting so much, so we switched to this data based app.

It does have some better features than SMS, such as time stamped messages so you know when they were sent, not just when they were received.

 

[n7]

No way this is good news for us whatsapp users.

And for those not in the know, whatsapp > texting by a huge margin.

It's great for group messaging...think google hangouts but less nerdy.

 

[StrangerGuy]

$19 billion for a messaging that the userbase can just instantly jump to tons of other free alternatives is just lol.

 

[biostud]

App cycle: Free App gets popular -> Lots of users -> free app is bought for gaziljion off $$$ -> ads are introduced to app -> users move on to next over hyped app. -> repeat.

 

[AViking]

Facebook went full retard. In Europe we use this app because it's free. Whoever said it's not free above is wrong. Nobody pays for it. We use it because we have friends in multiple countries and it's free SMSing.

edit: saw more above. Maybe it's not free? I don't know anyone who pays. I have factory reset and I have used multiple phone numbers depending on which country I'm in so maybe the app can't keep up?

As of this morning my facebook blew up with people uninstalling the app and moving on to a new one. Nobody wants anything to do with this. At least with my friends. I haven't uninstalled it yet since I want to try the alternatives that they're spouting but I can't imagine I'll be using the app for much longer.

Facebook you suck. Throwing around fake money to buy user information. Fuck you.

 

[Destiny]

Facebook went full retard. In Europe we use this app because it's free. Whoever said it's not free above is wrong. Nobody pays for it. We use it because we have friends in multiple countries and it's free SMSing.

edit: saw more above. Maybe it's not free? I don't know anyone who pays. I have factory reset and I have used multiple phone numbers depending on which country I'm in so maybe the app can't keep up?

As of this morning my facebook blew up with people uninstalling the app and moving on to a new one. Nobody wants anything to do with this. At least with my friends. I haven't uninstalled it yet since I want to try the alternatives that they're spouting but I can't imagine I'll be using the app for much longer.

Facebook you suck. Throwing around fake money to buy user information. Fuck you.

It is $1 per contact that you message per year after the first free year from what I've read in news articles... or they could be wrong...

I saw this coming and wasn't surprised. The main reason for Facebook's IPO was to get cash to buyout companies like Instagram or Whatsapp that may "pull" users' time from FB... basicallyto stop the bleeding and to continue growth in new "virtual popular hangouts."

 

[AViking]

I was one of the first users of ICQ. My id was 5 or 6 digits long and it was great in the beginning. Like all instant messaging apps though it got bloated and went to shit with banners and all kinds of garbage so that they could potentially make money. You then move on. MSN, Yahoo, etc. All of them try to monetize on something as simple as instant messaging and it backfires. The technology is too basic, there are too many alternatives, and your friends move on to the next big thing. We're already paying for internet, whether mobile or at home, and trying to make more off of us for something like this is not going to work for most people.

In this case though Facebook spent $19B. For user information. The technology is not worth that it is only the user information and the potential to monetize that information. People will move on and Facebook will have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars for each remaining user of which only a certain percent will be capitalized on. You figure if they lose half their users and 10% of those net a profit to facebook that would be a breakeven point of about $850 per user. In phony money so facebook doesn't care.

It doesn't bode well. ICQ literally tanked the moment AOL bought them. Today only Russians use it. I predict the same sad story here.

Check back in a month with what everyone is using. AT has a large userbase. Lets see how many switched.

 

[styrafoam]

Every now and then over the last year the rumor would pop up that google was planning on buying whatsapp, and it would usually get called out as some sort of viral plotting to illicit a bid from a one of the few companies that would actually be interested. Facebook finally decided to make a move, missing the point of whatsapp entirely, and they take a step towards becoming AOL 2.0 (or ver 5.5, or whatever they left off at when they stopped filling your mailbox with cds).

 

[rcpratt]

That's crazy. Second time Facebook values some completely random app hardly nobody uses at such a high price. The last one was Snapchat. Never heard of either of these apps. I guess they have their own niche users and it's aparantly big enough for them to value it that high.

Seems to me coding a messaging app from scratch would cost way less than buying one though, but guess it's all the copyright/patent/IP stuff that they want, and guess the existing userbase too.

I'm still waiting for the day Google buys Facebook. G+ is a failure, so they can just buy Facebook and convert it to G+. I'm sure Google salivates at the thought of gathering, mining and selling all this data.

You're talking about two apps that have been in the Top 10-20 on both iOS and Android for at least a year. You've moved way past naivete and straight into ignorance if you hadn't heard of either of those apps.

 

[ForumMaster]

it's an Israeli company and is obviously very popular here. what makes it different? no ads.
is it worth $19 billion? it isn't worth a penny imo.

FaceBook is loosing clientbase so they are trying to buy it back. $19 billion seems to be a bit excessive for an instance message client.

wonder how soon everybody will jump ship?

 

[Doppel]

I was one of the first users of ICQ. My id was 5 or 6 digits long and it was great in the beginning. Like all instant messaging apps though it got bloated and went to shit with banners and all kinds of garbage so that they could potentially make money. You then move on. MSN, Yahoo, etc. All of them try to monetize on something as simple as instant messaging and it backfires. The technology is too basic, there are too many alternatives, and your friends move on to the next big thing. We're already paying for internet, whether mobile or at home, and trying to make more off of us for something like this is not going to work for most people.

In this case though Facebook spent $19B. For user information. The technology is not worth that it is only the user information and the potential to monetize that information. People will move on and Facebook will have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars for each remaining user of which only a certain percent will be capitalized on. You figure if they lose half their users and 10% of those net a profit to facebook that would be a breakeven point of about $850 per user. In phony money so facebook doesn't care.

It doesn't bode well. ICQ literally tanked the moment AOL bought them. Today only Russians use it. I predict the same sad story here.

Check back in a month with what everyone is using. AT has a large userbase. Lets see how many switched.

My ICQ id was 7 digits But not by a great deal. Yeah, it became bloated and worthless shit. Happens with so many products.

 

[AViking]

I tend to use viber more than whatsapp so I think the switch for me will be very easy. A few select friends who need to get with the program but that can be done. Anything better out there though nowadays?

 

[silverpig]

My ICQ id was 7 digits But not by a great deal. Yeah, it became bloated and worthless shit. Happens with so many products.

I think I still have my ICQ number listed in my AT profile


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[cronos]

Facebook went full retard. In Europe we use this app because it's free. Whoever said it's not free above is wrong. Nobody pays for it. We use it because we have friends in multiple countries and it's free SMSing.

edit: saw more above. Maybe it's not free? I don't know anyone who pays. I have factory reset and I have used multiple phone numbers depending on which country I'm in so maybe the app can't keep up?

It's not free and I'm not wrong

Like I said, go check on your Setting. It will show you when your current subscription ends.

If you're using it on an iPhone, in the middle of last year they switched the subscription model from a one time purchase upfront to free first year and start paying in the second year like Android. There was this limbo period where the app was already free to install, but Apple's in-app purchase system wasn't ready/connected yet and people who got the app during the limbo period never charged for the initial install, but got marked with a 'lifetime subscription' as if they bought it as a paid app before the change.

Yes, there were lots of glitches/'workaround' in the 'paid subscription' portion of the app on all of the different platforms so it's somewhat easy (especially earlier) to avoid paying for it.

 

[Anubis]

Actually there is somebody I can't text who lives in another country because one of our phones' services won't connect. I guess this would get around it when email isn't used.And yet many on this tech forum still haven't heard of it.

because most people just use the default texting ap because the plan comes with their phone,

i tried to get everyone to swap to whatsapp years ago, no one cared, no one i know even on the cheapest texting plan uses more than they are allowed, much easier to just pay the 5$ a month vs getting people to switch.

i use it now and i only ever message 1 person on it (my boss) because he refuses to pay for a text plan. and even then its like 2 messages a month

 

[DAPUNISHER]

And yet many on this tech forum still haven't heard of it.

That is because you have to have friends for it to be useful. :biggrin:

 

[Vdubchaos]

I can't wait till Facebook implodes on itself, this brings them one step closer.

Good work Facebook

 

[Capt Caveman]

I can't wait till Facebook implodes on itself, this brings them one step closer.

Good work Facebook

Yet, their stock price went up to an all time yesterday. Oh, and their revenues have been even beating the estimates. Stick to stuff you know, which isn't much.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yet, their stock price went up to an all time yesterday. Oh, and their revenues have been even beating the estimates. Stick to stuff you know, which isn't much.

I think the techie shut-in crowd are unable to wrap their brains around why it is prospering, since it holds little attraction for them.

It seems that for most of the people on my friends list, it has become the hub of their internet lives. A considerable portion seem to use it to connect with everything and everyone, they are interested in.

 

[SaurusX]

So Zuck has decided to help out an old chum by making them super rich. Now they can all be super rich together and have a great old time. So sweet.

 

[Red Storm]

As a whatsapp user I find this news very disappointing. Not a fan of FB at all, never had one never will, but all my friends use whatsapp, domestic and international. I'll have to eventually find an alternative service to use, but whatsapp is the only one I know that everyone uses (except of course the ATers who don't socialize with people).

While it is disappointing, I would also sellout for $19b in a heartbeat (even though it's not really $19b in cash).