What's next after WhatsApp: a guide to the future of messaging apps
Facebook’s $19bn deal points to the internet’s future, but from Viber’s domination to upstart Kik, WhatsApp is hardly unique
Messaging is enticing for a few reasons. For one, it’s a medium used by people all over the world. For another, it’s quieter; messages deliver a stream of photos, video or simple text direct from loved ones, without the added noise of everyone else on the internet. Messages provide for the fastest way for people to connect or find each other in a crowd. And messages allow people to buy stuff – lots and lots of stuff – in an almost criminally seamless manner.
Consider the following a 101 guide to some of the messaging apps you may not have heard about, including a brief refresher on WhatsApp. These apps provide services that WhatsApp/Facebook may hope to emulate in the race to make money and literally monopolize the world’s attention. (And if that sounds creepy, that’s because it sort of is. The Guardian’s Dan Gilmor takes a look at a world where Zuckerberg, not phone service providers, dominate communication.)
Short attention span version: Born and bred in Silicon Valley by two ex-Yahoo employees, this app registers one million new users per day, and 450m users per month use the service to send text, photo and video. And now it’s worth a lot of money.
Where it’s popular: Europe – up to 80% market penetration in countries including Brazil, Germany, Portugal and Spain – and Latin America, India
Numbers: $19bm is the only number anyone’s paying attention to at the moment
Why it’s worth watching: See above. Also, WhatsApp’s revenue strategy ($1 after a year of free use) looks especially sluggish compared to other apps offering similar services.
More reading: Dominic Rushe’s breaking story on the acquisition also has great background on founders’ visions for the tool – and more numbers, if you need them.
Whatsapp has been brought by Facebook, whatsapp is a popular way people talk to each other and catch up with each other, it is popular in Europe - up to 80% market penetration in countries including Brazil, Germany, Portugal and Spain - and Latin Amercia and India. This shows is a something that is used around the world and it is really popular.
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