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Rumor: Google negotiating $1 billion acquisition of WhatsApp

61 points| dll | 13 years ago |digitaltrends.com | reply

63 comments

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[+] recuter|13 years ago|reply
Sometimes the mind boggles how companies like Google or Apple with its iMessages, who have all the ducks in a row, are so slow to capitalize on these things.

WhatsApp and most clones are pretty terrible, it is used solely because of network effects. But apparently two years is quick enough to reach escape velocity and lock it in. They are likely to get that billion.

[+] shawabawa3|13 years ago|reply
Why exactly is WhatsApp terrible? I've been using it for about 6months and it works perfectly. Low memory usage, low disk space usage, low cpu usage, messages go through instantly and reliably. What more do you want in a messaging app?
[+] kashif|13 years ago|reply
You should try Talk.to - http://talk.to

Disclaimer: I am the lead dev for the android product.

[+] joelhaasnoot|13 years ago|reply
While they are terrible in so many ways - it just works. Google Talk just plain doesn't work with the latency and read notifciations.

I manage an large piece of software with a GUI that runs on a locked down Linux workstation. WhatsApp is how I get "screenshots" of problems.

[+] anizan|13 years ago|reply
Its not just the network effects but direct access to phone numbers and contact book cross platform. so think of it like network*network.
[+] Mahn|13 years ago|reply
That would make for a very nice middle finger to Facebook if they pull this off (allegedly they attempted to acquire WhatsApp before)

But $1 billion? I'm not sure if that evaluation is entirely justified. It has a pretty large user base, granted, but there's practically nothing that warrants people will continue using it in the next 5 years.

[+] rubyrescue|13 years ago|reply
Outside of the US WhatsApp rules with an iron fist. Every non-tech person I know uses it. I hear it dropped in casual conversation at the table next to me in restaurants. It's got a public mindshare greater than Skype. And once all your friends are on it, it's not so easy to switch.
[+] ealexhudson|13 years ago|reply
If they're genuinely doing $100M revenue a year, it's not far off: you'd assume that they could grow a bit more, and maybe raise subs a little bit, and suddenly they're a $0.5B/yr company, without having done much work.

I would be amazed if they're doing $100M/yr but who knows.

[+] sthkr|13 years ago|reply
It probably isn't just like Instagram wasn't but companies like WhatsApp like to play hard ball and negotiate higher bids because they know they're in demand and Google would rather overpay to gain an advantage then starting from scratch. Google talk isn't used much!
[+] Achshar|13 years ago|reply
The number of people who use whatsapp is very high even in my not so techie circle of acquaintances in a developing country. Not to mention it has direct access to all the phone books of every user along with their very real name and other info. This is more of an asset that cannot be converted into money directly (or indirectly legally at least)
[+] slaxman|13 years ago|reply
What's App is huge in India. The standard term here is "Whatsapp me". I almost stopped using sms & almost entirely use whatsapp. Simple and clutter free.

One thing that worries me with Google's purchase is the ads. Google will want to introduce while I would prefer to pay the annual fee and keep it ad free. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

[+] omonra|13 years ago|reply
I guess it's more useful to more people around the world than Instagram. So there's one benchmark :)
[+] rubyrescue|13 years ago|reply
To take the code focus for a second, this would be a great win for Erlang in that it would put a very high-profile Erlang powered app inside Google.
[+] justhw|13 years ago|reply
Anybody think WhatsApp will still be here in a year or two?
[+] sergiotapia|13 years ago|reply
At least here in Bolivia, literally every single person I've talked to that owns a smartphone uses WhatsApp to communicate.

Not even Facebook messenger, but WhatsApp specifically. It _completely_ obliterated BBPin when Blackberry was more in use, but since Android picked up a lot of marketshare here with Samsung's Galaxy line it's dropped out of the radar.

[+] DasIch|13 years ago|reply
WhatsApp just like Instagram is too valuable as a brand. I expect that WhatsApp will be managed very much like YouTube in that it will remain independent and will be slowly integrated in the Google ecosystem over time so that people recognize it as a Google service.
[+] Havoc|13 years ago|reply
Definitely. Its a really powerful force in 3rd world countries. Here is ZA they cornered the market completely.

Unless they screw it up themselves they aren't going to lose that head start. Not with the kind of network effects at play here.

[+] nobodyshere|13 years ago|reply
If google acquires them, they won't be there as WhatsApp anymore. Probably a better integration of gtalk is to be expected 'soon'.
[+] joelhaasnoot|13 years ago|reply
While they own the market - not sure they can get people to actually pay for the product. Not sure they can afford to give it away free.
[+] mtgx|13 years ago|reply
Well if they can't buy whatsapp because they are asking for too much, they should buy LINE or whoever is next in line (no pun intended) with the biggest network of users, and is still growing fast. The strategy of buying one of these companies out to catch-up to iMessage in user base (not counting Gtalk users) is a sound one.

But whoever it's going to be and whatever Google is going to use, can we get OTR encryption enabled by default in there? Google doesn't need to have access to people's private conversations after all - right?

[+] maguay|13 years ago|reply
Congrats Google: you're trying to buy an app as its going down. Practically everyone in Asia has switched to Line, and WhatsApp is definitely not what it was last year.
[+] intopieces|13 years ago|reply
Would this acquisition just serve to take it out of the market? Google already has a text-messaging (a better one) with Google Voice. I ditched my $20/month texting plan a few months back and have been quite pleased, especially with my ability to open my texts in a browser and use a physical keyboard.

Granted, the privacy is completely nonexistant; my texts might as well be on my facebook wall. But that doesn't really bother me.

[+] pmelendez|13 years ago|reply
This scary me a little bit. Most of my friends have Whatsapp across different platforms and it would be a shame to find out that Google would shutdown the project in favor of GTalk
[+] pasbesoin|13 years ago|reply
These valuations are just absurd. Shades of a decade ago.
[+] QuantumDoja|13 years ago|reply
I really thought Skype would snap this one up.
[+] Mahn|13 years ago|reply
You mean Microsoft? Skype belongs to them for quite some time now.

Edit: Not sure why the downvote, Skype does belong to Microsoft, and for Skype to go after WhatsApp now would mean Microsoft has to actively pursue it, which given their track record of acquisitions seems a bit unlikely as opposed to Skype independently doing acquisitions.

[+] badclient|13 years ago|reply
Samsung is insane for not acquiring WhatsApp.
[+] mtgx|13 years ago|reply
I'd rather it remained a cross Android/iOS app (the right strategy, too, here) than a "Samsung-only" app like ChatON, which "nobody" uses.
[+] notatoad|13 years ago|reply
i don't see how it makes any sense for samsung. they're a hardware company, and the only way an app drives hardware sales is if it is exclusive. if you make whatsapp exclusive to samsung devices, you take away all of its value.
[+] skrebbel|13 years ago|reply
It makes sense, but would be horrible for consumers. Google reading every instant message i send? Brr, please not.
[+] LockeWatts|13 years ago|reply
You think your messages aren't already being read? That seems a bit naive.