15 ms·

Funny that those cheap phones dont run WhatsApp natively. Remember when WhatsApp was new, one narrative was that it was so successful because it had a client fo

Funny that those cheap phones dont run WhatsApp natively. Remember when WhatsApp was new, one narrative was that it was so successful because it had a client for absolutely every system, including Symbian and Java Mobile.

fyfy18 9y ago
Apparently they run a fork of FirefoxOS under the hood: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/reliance-jio-feature-phone-kaios-apps-games-battery-1727285 https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/reliance-jio-feature-p...
- naugtur 9y ago
  There used to be a barely-working whatsapp client on FFOS while it was still alive. OpenWapp was the name. And you could register/authenticate via SMS. Stopped working at some point though because whatsapp api changes.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
  interesting...so FirefoxOS ended up being somewhat of a success.
dkaigorodov 9y ago
Very good point. I believe whatsapp is the one to be trolled.
eps 9y ago
There is no value in collecting social graph data on owners of $20 phones.
- jopsen 9y ago
  It's a long play... Being the defacto messaging system in a country like India is certainly a position worth protecting.
  - emj 9y ago
    But for how long.. IM apps come and go.
    - mcny 9y ago
      That's the big question that I think Facebook spends billions of dollars protecting: can we make IM users stick? I think at some point, it becomes sticky if a huge part of the population has it. So I don't think Facebook will try to shut down this guy. He is doing free work for them.
      - veli_joza 9y ago
        Allow me to repeat my comment from above: he could read/modify/inject arbitrary chat content. He could embed ads into Whatsapp interface. Lots of tech companies are trying to 'build for next billion', but this is clearly not the way forward.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
deanclatworthy 9y ago
It’s possible they used to. WhatsApp stopped supporting a range of older phones at the start of 2018.
- jeron 9y ago
  that's probably a large portion of their market share, even if it was costly to support older devices, it was probably worth the DAUs

fyfy18 9y ago

Apparently they run a fork of FirefoxOS under the hood: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/reliance-jio-feature-phone-kaios-apps-games-battery-1727285 https://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/reliance-jio-feature-p...

naugtur 9y ago
There used to be a barely-working whatsapp client on FFOS while it was still alive. OpenWapp was the name. And you could register/authenticate via SMS. Stopped working at some point though because whatsapp api changes.
em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
interesting...so FirefoxOS ended up being somewhat of a success.

dkaigorodov 9y ago

Very good point. I believe whatsapp is the one to be trolled.

eps 9y ago

There is no value in collecting social graph data on owners of $20 phones.

jopsen 9y ago
It's a long play... Being the defacto messaging system in a country like India is certainly a position worth protecting.
- emj 9y ago
  But for how long.. IM apps come and go.
  - mcny 9y ago
    That's the big question that I think Facebook spends billions of dollars protecting: can we make IM users stick? I think at some point, it becomes sticky if a huge part of the population has it. So I don't think Facebook will try to shut down this guy. He is doing free work for them.
    - veli_joza 9y ago
      Allow me to repeat my comment from above: he could read/modify/inject arbitrary chat content. He could embed ads into Whatsapp interface. Lots of tech companies are trying to 'build for next billion', but this is clearly not the way forward.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

deanclatworthy 9y ago

It’s possible they used to. WhatsApp stopped supporting a range of older phones at the start of 2018.

jeron 9y ago
that's probably a large portion of their market share, even if it was costly to support older devices, it was probably worth the DAUs