[iso1631]

Flyertalk wasn't keen on the next big thing either

"ever since i semi-retired a little over a year ago, i been traveling A LOT and i hated it when people tried to reach me when i am on the plane or out of the country. so i asked myself -- wouldn't it be cool if i just set a status for my iPhone, similar to how you can set a status on yahoo messenger or skype."

Only response was

" It appears that this requires the other party to also have the app installed, right? "

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/952359-tho...

[gonehome]

At least with that one whatsapp's original idea switched from statuses to messaging because they saw the users using their ability to set statuses to message each other. That paired with awful SMS in most of the world let them dominate.

That's quite a different thing from what (I'm guessing Jan Koum?) is pitching here. So it'd be easier to not make the jump I think.