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It would cost $175k to clone Instagram

4 points by andgarzon 14y ago

johnla 14y ago
BRB, making Instagram
AndyPratt 14y ago
Really interesting! Looks like FB overpaid! Ha
cambraca 14y ago
I guess teams are worth a lot more than I thought
garyvergara 14y ago
I thinks is worth it. A great app. And a good strategy of FB to absorb a potencial competitor
jpatiaga 14y ago
Drop.io: $10M Snaptu: $70M Instagram: $1000M Having everybody talk about your latest acquisition: Priceless! There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Facebook.
asheimberg 14y ago
Finally someone takes a different stab at the Instagram news!
Naruba 14y ago
I guess developing is being too easy...
nickbarnwell 14y ago
I feel the article vastly underestimates the difficulties associated with scaling to Instagram's size at buyout and the time it takes for developers to come to terms with and accommodate that. The first 80% of Instagram is the app and sharing, the next 20% of building the network out is where all the value was created and the majority of development time was invested. The founders described it as "replacing all the components of a car while driving it at 100mph", and even having worked on projects orders of magnitude smaller (albeit with a considerably more complex datamodel) I can't say I disagree.
- johnla 14y ago
  True. I watched an interview of one of the founders and he revealed that Instagram is just a offshoot feature of their original product. So the cost of mistakes are not taken into account. It's like someone proving out that E=MC^2 AFTER Einstein already figured out the problem. It's still a cool exercise to do! I wish he would do that for more sites and apps! I bet the Draw Something app isn't that expensive to reproduce.
  - andgarzon 14y ago
    Agree with both of you guys. And of course I am making a lot of assumptions, but wanted to help devs realize the value of different components of a business. Because if that wasn't the case, Facebook could have just build an app just like Instagram.
davidbepa 14y ago
It's a nice app based on a simple idea. It's worth it.
andrefy 14y ago
Interesting, sometimes we underestimate the value of assets that cannot be easily estimate
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
josebui 14y ago
It is a great app, but I think Facebook overpaid
Overkillica 14y ago
Awesome article. I think Facebook did the correct move, otherwise, other big tech company would have acquired Instagram instead.
davorivas 14y ago
Very interesting article, and besides all the good and proper reasons for this, I also believe it was a way for facebook to "show off" how much they have and can spend. And yes good teams are worth a whole lot.
- jpatiaga 14y ago
  Yes, there is a lot of marketing involved in this acquisition, besides the importance of Instagram in the industry.

4 points by andgarzon 14y ago

johnla 14y ago

BRB, making Instagram

AndyPratt 14y ago

Really interesting! Looks like FB overpaid! Ha

cambraca 14y ago

I guess teams are worth a lot more than I thought

garyvergara 14y ago

I thinks is worth it. A great app. And a good strategy of FB to absorb a potencial competitor

jpatiaga 14y ago

Drop.io: $10M Snaptu: $70M Instagram: $1000M Having everybody talk about your latest acquisition: Priceless! There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Facebook.

asheimberg 14y ago

Finally someone takes a different stab at the Instagram news!

Naruba 14y ago

I guess developing is being too easy...

nickbarnwell 14y ago

I feel the article vastly underestimates the difficulties associated with scaling to Instagram's size at buyout and the time it takes for developers to come to terms with and accommodate that. The first 80% of Instagram is the app and sharing, the next 20% of building the network out is where all the value was created and the majority of development time was invested. The founders described it as "replacing all the components of a car while driving it at 100mph", and even having worked on projects orders of magnitude smaller (albeit with a considerably more complex datamodel) I can't say I disagree.

johnla 14y ago
True. I watched an interview of one of the founders and he revealed that Instagram is just a offshoot feature of their original product. So the cost of mistakes are not taken into account. It's like someone proving out that E=MC^2 AFTER Einstein already figured out the problem. It's still a cool exercise to do! I wish he would do that for more sites and apps! I bet the Draw Something app isn't that expensive to reproduce.
- andgarzon 14y ago
  Agree with both of you guys. And of course I am making a lot of assumptions, but wanted to help devs realize the value of different components of a business. Because if that wasn't the case, Facebook could have just build an app just like Instagram.

davidbepa 14y ago

It's a nice app based on a simple idea. It's worth it.

andrefy 14y ago

Interesting, sometimes we underestimate the value of assets that cannot be easily estimate

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

josebui 14y ago

It is a great app, but I think Facebook overpaid

Overkillica 14y ago

Awesome article. I think Facebook did the correct move, otherwise, other big tech company would have acquired Instagram instead.

davorivas 14y ago

Very interesting article, and besides all the good and proper reasons for this, I also believe it was a way for facebook to "show off" how much they have and can spend. And yes good teams are worth a whole lot.

jpatiaga 14y ago
Yes, there is a lot of marketing involved in this acquisition, besides the importance of Instagram in the industry.