4 ms·

don't you think that Facebook has tried this already? Facebook Messenger/Messages has a non trivial number of engineers working on it, but it still doesn't have

• jonnathanson 13y ago
  True. It's worth adding that Facebook Messenger itself began (or was at least jumpstarted) with the acquisition of a company called Beluga in 2011. Facebook has definitely made an effort to get into this space -- not necessarily a failed effort, at that -- and it's been trying for years. The idea that "Facebook can just build its own WhatsApp and market it" is silly, especially in light of Facebook's history here. I'm not convinced $19B was a reasonable price for WhatsApp, unless, as I suspect, there was some heavy competitive bidding pressure. (Google tried to buy the company at $10B not very long ago; I'd imagine there were counteroffers between G and FB, which FB ultimately won at $19B.)
• nilkn 13y ago
  FB messenger isn't a replica precisely because it ties into FB. WhatsApp made it a point to be extremely easy to sign up for and to not require any other major social media accounts. Somewhat ironically, Facebook may have been more successful in replicating WhatsApp if they had also made a messenger that was not connected at all with Facebook other than its corporate origins.
  • mkr-hn 13y ago
    This seemed to work for AIM and AOL.