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Then they lacked the imagination. The Facebook app would have become a web browser where Facebook controls user auth, contacts and then payments. Big $$$
by cheriot 5y ago
Then they lacked the imagination. The Facebook app would have become a web browser where Facebook controls user auth, contacts and then payments. Big $$$
- scarface74 5y agoBy 2009, Apple and Amazon already had more credit cards on file than any other company in the US if not the world. In Apple’s case because of iTunes, before the App Store and Amazon because Amazon. Why would you use FB for payments when you were probably either shopping on Amazon, Apple or EBay using PayPal?
- cheriot 5y agoIn this path, people would be interacting with games/content in Facebook "apps" that are effectively mobile web pages. Facebook would have control inside their garden. As soon as any Facebook app convinced a user to pay, all other facebook apps would have a seamless checkout. Getting user financials isn't easy but we've seen the rise of Venmo, Robinhood, and Neobanks since then so it's doable.
- scarface74 5y agoBy 2009, mobile was clearly the future. But the phones were underpowered and didn’t run web pages well. Even today, most of the world is browsing the internet on low end phones where the web provides a sub par experience. Desktop penetration is lower outside of the US. Aren’t Internet cafes still a thing in much of the world because people don’t have computers at home?
- cheriot 5y agoI think internet cafe's are pretty old school everywhere now. Anecdotally, much of the developing world leapfrogged the US on mobile/fintech. People had low end smart phones and banked with their phone carriers 5+ years ago in East Africa. Latest anecdote (this week) is not seeing internet cafe's in Belize and government PSA's say to contact them on whatsapp. That said, Facebook makes their money in rich countries.
- scarface74 5y agoI’m an ignorant American, you mean what I see on 90 Day Fiancé is not representative of the rest of the world?
- HWR_14 5y agoIn 2009 neither Apple nor Amazon allowed P2P payments.
- scarface74 5y agoPeer to peer payments is still not a big deal compared to consumer to business spending. Even if you consider eBay to be P2P, it still mostly went through PayPal.
- bryan_w 5y ago>would have become a web browser Not on iOS where that sort of thing is prohibited. Sure they could put a skin over safari, but apple would have banned the entire FB app as soon as they found a developer's app they didn't like.
- deckard1 5y agoI always wondered: why is Apple allowing WeChat to exist? Their mini apps seem in direct competition with the app store. Is this a China political thing? Are they worried about losing all access to the market there? It seems clear Apple is not applying their own rules consistently. If that's the case, wouldn't there also be anti-trust implications here?
- Thorentis 5y ago> Is this a China political thing? Yes.
- piggybox 5y agoI can bet if Apple banned WeChat, most people in China would switch to Android. Apple doesn't apply the same privacy rule in all countries as well. It's all about business, never about consistency.
- dbtc 5y agoBut apple can pull the plug on it, right? It would hurt business of course, but it's probably a good position to have that hypothetical power.
- ipaddr 5y agoApple would have lost the mainstream user back then. Now they have power over facebook
- scarface74 5y agoThat’s the same thing Adobe thought when Flash wouldn’t work in the iPhone.