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Too little, too late. Whatsapp has taken the throne in multi-platform messaging quite some time ago. Just like Facebook and Google+, no matter how good and inno

Too little, too late. Whatsapp has taken the throne in multi-platform messaging quite some time ago. Just like Facebook and Google+, no matter how good and innovative the latter is, as long as all your friends are still on the former, the latter will not gain much traction.

synchronise 13y ago
No one in Australia uses Whatsapp, I have no idea how everyone else in the world communicates but everyone uses Skype or Facebook Chat to talk to each other here. Also, everyone I know wouldn't pay for a communications protocol, no matter how good it is.
- zainny 13y ago
  I live in Australia and use Whatsapp and so do lots of other people I know.
  - synchronise 13y ago
    I'm not joking here, the only people I've seen use it are foreign exchange students, and I go to a university. I keep hearing how it's big, but then I don't see any real world use over here.
- enko 13y ago
  I also live in Australia and use Whatsapp all the time. Skype is way too heavyweight. Facebook ... I do not trust facebook at all, and do not wish to tie up my messaging capabilities with them. > Also, everyone I know wouldn't pay for a communications protocol, no matter how good it is. Dude, it's a dollar. One dollar. That's your contribution to the infrastructure that is handling 27 billion messages a day. Was your phone free? Are your phone calls and SMS free? Is anything else in life free? I don't get it.
fungi 13y ago
i believe wechat and line are both bigger.
- jng 13y ago
  It's distributed on a very per-country basis. WhatsApp is used by over 90% of people in Spain, to the detriment of others. It shows how the success of this kind of thing depends more on network effects than on product quality - only one of them is exactly homogeneous across countries.
tpiddy 13y ago
I really like LINE better than Whatsapp.
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  Nobody uses LINE outside of East Asia.
zmmmmm 13y ago
The missing element is trust, particularly in the professional / business market. I wouldn't dream of suggesting Whatsapp to my professional contacts. But BBM I just might, especially if they are (or were in the past) already blackberry users, so probably have an identity there.
acchow 13y ago
I don't use Whatsapp. It feels kind of anti-internet to me. When your phone's battery dies, you can just keep checking your Whatsapp messages on your computer right? False. Want to switch smartphone platforms, just log in to Whatsapp on your new phone and all your old messages (read: PHOTOS) are expectedly there, right? HAH. Moved countries, and now I need to broadcast on my Facebook wall asking people to re-add me on Whatsapp? Because I got a new phone number? An app running on my supercomputer in my pocket with a retina display is still tied to a phone number? Are you fucking kidding me? I use FB chat and Hangouts. I would use FB chat exclusively but it can't do video calls.
- alien3d 13y ago
  you can just keep checking your Whatsapp messages on your computer right? True I'm using bluestack software.I only checking whatsapp only office hour only.
  - ishansharma 13y ago
    There's a difference! Bluestack is a workaround. Better situation would be at least a web app. An app that integrates Whatsapp with Windows and Macs (like iMessages work on Macs) will be a great idea.
  - acchow 13y ago
    Does it do syncing? That is, while you're having a conversation on Bluestack on your computer and then you don't get a reply for a while, and when you get a reply on your phone, you completely forget what the conversation was about: will your phone show a history of the conversation from the computer?
- ishansharma 13y ago
  I agree with you on this one. I have no idea how every company running after messaging just forgets that we use computers! Almost every messenger app out there doesn't work on desktops. A simple web app will do, but no! iMessages are quite close to what messaging should be. They work on your (Apple) desktop, phone and tablet and sync quite well. Too bad they're only for Apple Ecosystem!
einhverfr 13y ago
One of the big things though is that BBM is big over here in Indonesia and is the main selling point for Blackberry. It seems odd, but blackberries are consumer smartphones over here. This could go one of two ways: 1. BBM could become a larger service that Blackberry finds some other way to leverage, or 2. This could lead to the loss of the last few really major captive markets for BBM. I don't think that Blackberry can survive withotu finding a way to leverage BBM in these markets.
ishansharma 13y ago
I can't say about WhatsApp in other countries but their usage is going to take a hit in India once they start charging(they plan to charge $0.99 per year, that is ~INR 60), people will flock. Reasons: 1. People in India are too used to "free" software. Only legal software most purchase here is Windows that comes bundled with laptops/desktops. 2. Low credit card penetration. Most of the teens don't have credit cards. Thanks to government rules, we can't use debit cards to pay on App Stores as well. So people either won't pay or can't pay. Many are already starting to use other apps and there is no shortage of free apps due to exploding messaging space.
- richardw 13y ago
  The only reason it's free is so WhatsApp can make money at some point. If there are people who won't pay, ever, then there's less reason to keep them as users. Not "no reason", however. I'm sure WhatsApp could find a way to monetise them, or just leverage them for network effect. WhatsApp is a lightweight replacement for text messages, not a full-blown social network. You pay a buck, you get free text messages, not unending trickery to overcome your privacy options. I have WhatsApp contacts worldwide, so even if some countries reduce their usage there's benefit in sticking with it. For $100 I'd stop using it. For $10, I'd think about it. $1 is a no-brainer, and I live in Africa. Now I just wish they had a supported, paid-for API I could integrate with.
narzac 13y ago
Anonymity is still important to some though, since whatsapp by default uses phone number vs bbm's pin number, some users may shift to bbm. It is late, but may be not too late.
newsign 13y ago
whats app has a huge privacy & security issue and their user are realizing it now so i hope BBM become their next choice .... it would be great if someone introduces true encryption though :)

synchronise 13y ago

No one in Australia uses Whatsapp, I have no idea how everyone else in the world communicates but everyone uses Skype or Facebook Chat to talk to each other here. Also, everyone I know wouldn't pay for a communications protocol, no matter how good it is.

zainny 13y ago
I live in Australia and use Whatsapp and so do lots of other people I know.
- synchronise 13y ago
  I'm not joking here, the only people I've seen use it are foreign exchange students, and I go to a university. I keep hearing how it's big, but then I don't see any real world use over here.
enko 13y ago
I also live in Australia and use Whatsapp all the time. Skype is way too heavyweight. Facebook ... I do not trust facebook at all, and do not wish to tie up my messaging capabilities with them. > Also, everyone I know wouldn't pay for a communications protocol, no matter how good it is. Dude, it's a dollar. One dollar. That's your contribution to the infrastructure that is handling 27 billion messages a day. Was your phone free? Are your phone calls and SMS free? Is anything else in life free? I don't get it.

fungi 13y ago

i believe wechat and line are both bigger.

jng 13y ago
It's distributed on a very per-country basis. WhatsApp is used by over 90% of people in Spain, to the detriment of others. It shows how the success of this kind of thing depends more on network effects than on product quality - only one of them is exactly homogeneous across countries.

tpiddy 13y ago

I really like LINE better than Whatsapp.

w1ntermute 13y ago
Nobody uses LINE outside of East Asia.

zmmmmm 13y ago

The missing element is trust, particularly in the professional / business market. I wouldn't dream of suggesting Whatsapp to my professional contacts. But BBM I just might, especially if they are (or were in the past) already blackberry users, so probably have an identity there.

acchow 13y ago

I don't use Whatsapp. It feels kind of anti-internet to me. When your phone's battery dies, you can just keep checking your Whatsapp messages on your computer right? False. Want to switch smartphone platforms, just log in to Whatsapp on your new phone and all your old messages (read: PHOTOS) are expectedly there, right? HAH. Moved countries, and now I need to broadcast on my Facebook wall asking people to re-add me on Whatsapp? Because I got a new phone number? An app running on my supercomputer in my pocket with a retina display is still tied to a phone number? Are you fucking kidding me? I use FB chat and Hangouts. I would use FB chat exclusively but it can't do video calls.

alien3d 13y ago
you can just keep checking your Whatsapp messages on your computer right? True I'm using bluestack software.I only checking whatsapp only office hour only.
- ishansharma 13y ago
  There's a difference! Bluestack is a workaround. Better situation would be at least a web app. An app that integrates Whatsapp with Windows and Macs (like iMessages work on Macs) will be a great idea.
- acchow 13y ago
  Does it do syncing? That is, while you're having a conversation on Bluestack on your computer and then you don't get a reply for a while, and when you get a reply on your phone, you completely forget what the conversation was about: will your phone show a history of the conversation from the computer?
ishansharma 13y ago
I agree with you on this one. I have no idea how every company running after messaging just forgets that we use computers! Almost every messenger app out there doesn't work on desktops. A simple web app will do, but no! iMessages are quite close to what messaging should be. They work on your (Apple) desktop, phone and tablet and sync quite well. Too bad they're only for Apple Ecosystem!

einhverfr 13y ago

One of the big things though is that BBM is big over here in Indonesia and is the main selling point for Blackberry. It seems odd, but blackberries are consumer smartphones over here. This could go one of two ways: 1. BBM could become a larger service that Blackberry finds some other way to leverage, or 2. This could lead to the loss of the last few really major captive markets for BBM. I don't think that Blackberry can survive withotu finding a way to leverage BBM in these markets.

ishansharma 13y ago

I can't say about WhatsApp in other countries but their usage is going to take a hit in India once they start charging(they plan to charge $0.99 per year, that is ~INR 60), people will flock. Reasons: 1. People in India are too used to "free" software. Only legal software most purchase here is Windows that comes bundled with laptops/desktops. 2. Low credit card penetration. Most of the teens don't have credit cards. Thanks to government rules, we can't use debit cards to pay on App Stores as well. So people either won't pay or can't pay. Many are already starting to use other apps and there is no shortage of free apps due to exploding messaging space.

richardw 13y ago
The only reason it's free is so WhatsApp can make money at some point. If there are people who won't pay, ever, then there's less reason to keep them as users. Not "no reason", however. I'm sure WhatsApp could find a way to monetise them, or just leverage them for network effect. WhatsApp is a lightweight replacement for text messages, not a full-blown social network. You pay a buck, you get free text messages, not unending trickery to overcome your privacy options. I have WhatsApp contacts worldwide, so even if some countries reduce their usage there's benefit in sticking with it. For $100 I'd stop using it. For $10, I'd think about it. $1 is a no-brainer, and I live in Africa. Now I just wish they had a supported, paid-for API I could integrate with.

narzac 13y ago

Anonymity is still important to some though, since whatsapp by default uses phone number vs bbm's pin number, some users may shift to bbm. It is late, but may be not too late.

newsign 13y ago

whats app has a huge privacy & security issue and their user are realizing it now so i hope BBM become their next choice .... it would be great if someone introduces true encryption though :)