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But seriously how do they pay their bills? (I know VK brothers are super rich) There are bots that relay huge media files It's probably (imo) the fastest & m

by t3ra 10y ago

But seriously how do they pay their bills? (I know VK brothers are super rich) There are bots that relay huge media files It's probably (imo) the fastest & most complete cloud based chat app Everything.. Literally everything you share can be retrived over the cloud & and now calling That must be super expensive infrastructure? No investors no monetization

clishem 10y ago
Telegram is losing millions each year, paid by Pavel Durov, its founder. "If you look at Telegram today, every month it burns over $1 million. It might seem that it’s just going nowhere, but if you want to come up with business model, you need to get to a decent size first. We have 62 million users at the moment, which is enough userbase to attract third-party developers to create products on top of your platform. You can’t do that from day one. It’s difficult." http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/13271/pavel-durov-vkontakte-telegram-interview/#sthash.Bc8PkfKi.dpuf http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-... I suspect the cost is even higher now.
- 72deluxe 10y ago
  Isn't this just hoping that products come along that use your platform and that people are willing to pay for that? Doesn't seem a good strategy to my limited understanding. Also, experience has taught that users are fickle and that products that are free that transition to paid products quickly lose their users.
unicornporn 10y ago
They're sitting on troves of data. Extremely few use the E2E encrypted "secure chat" feature (mainly because it isn't default, but also because it doesn't sync between devices) and all the chat logs and data are stored on their servers (and are readable by Telegram). They also store your address book on their servers. I'm sure they will find ways monetize this. Data is the "new gold", as they say[1]... [1] https://www.google.com/#q="data+is+the+new+gold" https://www.google.com/#q="data+is+the+new+gold"
- jaflo 10y ago
  Their FAQ[1] states: Q: Will you have ads? Or sell my data? Or steal my beloved and enslave my children? No. So I don't think they will make money by selling data. [1] https://telegram.org/faq#q-will-you-have-ads-or-sell-my-data-or-steal-my-beloved-and-ensl https://telegram.org/faq#q-will-you-have-ads-or-sell-my-data...
  - fenwick67 10y ago
    An FAQ isn't binding. What does their TOS say?
    - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
      Why isn't the FAQ binding, do they disclaim it elsewhere?
    - unicornporn 10y ago
      Are you really serious? This is a post snowden society. > An FAQ isn't binding. Probably not, but please beware that this service is not subject to US law, but the laws of the Russian Federation. > What does their TOS say? TOS are subject to change, right? And even if it wasn't, do you really think the TOS will stop a company run by a russian nationalist[1] offering a free service with a million dollar bill will stick by their word (which, in this case is literally a single word)? [1] https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/
      - magic_quotes 10y ago
        > service is not subject to US law, but the laws of the Russian Federation They are not registered in Russia, afaik. > russian nationalist[1] … [1] https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/ That's just Pavel's usual populism. He says the same things about Russia or pretty much anything.
        lambdadmitry 10y ago
teekert 10y ago
I read at some point that they were betting on "Messaging as a platform", eventually they may introduce paid services, apps, paid bots, company features etc.
- mercer 10y ago
  Considering WeChat, that's probably not a bad bet.
Geee 10y ago
If Snapchat is worth $30B, surely Telegram is way more than that.
- kbar13 10y ago
  snapchat covered a new market of communications and captured almost the entire young adult market. also it's already monetized. not sure telegram can compare atm.

by t3ra 10y ago

clishem 10y ago

Telegram is losing millions each year, paid by Pavel Durov, its founder. "If you look at Telegram today, every month it burns over $1 million. It might seem that it’s just going nowhere, but if you want to come up with business model, you need to get to a decent size first. We have 62 million users at the moment, which is enough userbase to attract third-party developers to create products on top of your platform. You can’t do that from day one. It’s difficult." http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/13271/pavel-durov-vkontakte-telegram-interview/#sthash.Bc8PkfKi.dpuf http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-... I suspect the cost is even higher now.

72deluxe 10y ago
Isn't this just hoping that products come along that use your platform and that people are willing to pay for that? Doesn't seem a good strategy to my limited understanding. Also, experience has taught that users are fickle and that products that are free that transition to paid products quickly lose their users.

unicornporn 10y ago

They're sitting on troves of data. Extremely few use the E2E encrypted "secure chat" feature (mainly because it isn't default, but also because it doesn't sync between devices) and all the chat logs and data are stored on their servers (and are readable by Telegram). They also store your address book on their servers. I'm sure they will find ways monetize this. Data is the "new gold", as they say[1]... [1] https://www.google.com/#q="data+is+the+new+gold" https://www.google.com/#q="data+is+the+new+gold"

jaflo 10y ago
Their FAQ[1] states: Q: Will you have ads? Or sell my data? Or steal my beloved and enslave my children? No. So I don't think they will make money by selling data. [1] https://telegram.org/faq#q-will-you-have-ads-or-sell-my-data-or-steal-my-beloved-and-ensl https://telegram.org/faq#q-will-you-have-ads-or-sell-my-data...
- fenwick67 10y ago
  An FAQ isn't binding. What does their TOS say?
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    Why isn't the FAQ binding, do they disclaim it elsewhere?
  - unicornporn 10y ago
    Are you really serious? This is a post snowden society. > An FAQ isn't binding. Probably not, but please beware that this service is not subject to US law, but the laws of the Russian Federation. > What does their TOS say? TOS are subject to change, right? And even if it wasn't, do you really think the TOS will stop a company run by a russian nationalist[1] offering a free service with a million dollar bill will stick by their word (which, in this case is literally a single word)? [1] https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/
    - magic_quotes 10y ago
      > service is not subject to US law, but the laws of the Russian Federation They are not registered in Russia, afaik. > russian nationalist[1] … [1] https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/-MrPWGr7aL/ That's just Pavel's usual populism. He says the same things about Russia or pretty much anything.
      - lambdadmitry 10y ago

teekert 10y ago

I read at some point that they were betting on "Messaging as a platform", eventually they may introduce paid services, apps, paid bots, company features etc.

mercer 10y ago
Considering WeChat, that's probably not a bad bet.

Geee 10y ago

If Snapchat is worth $30B, surely Telegram is way more than that.

kbar13 10y ago
snapchat covered a new market of communications and captured almost the entire young adult market. also it's already monetized. not sure telegram can compare atm.