[codegeek]

I know this whole "$19B for whatsapp" topic is getting old already but I really think they solved some core problems that users had. Technically, those were probably not as challenging but functionally, this is what won me over :

- No registration required. Yes and Yes. do you hear Skype ? All you need is your phone number. And let's not get started on the privacy thing because the benefits outweigh the cost. See more below

- Easy to invite others. Just sends a simple SMS/text and wala, you are in.

- In countries like the US, SMS/Texting is very expensive (yes, i know...). Specifically, if you want to talk to someone international. Whatsapp solved this problem with ease. There were others (viber etc) but they just don't have the easy interface at least in my experience. Sure, the caveat is that everyone needs to have wifi/data plans but those are getting much more easier than convincing your phone company to stop charging bullshit rates for a simple text.

- Lets you create Groups. This sounds simple but imagine wanting to talk to your core family members in 1 text ? Whatsapp lets you do that with no pain.

- Share pictures/multimedia within groups. Again, very simple to use and comes included. I don't want to even explain what these cell phone companies charge for something they lable as MMS (not text).

Overall, when I came across Whatsapp, I was like "Finally, someone gets it and this should have been so duhhh but apparently, it wasn't". Very happy for the entire whatsapp team.

[orionsbelt]

Sorry, I'm normally not one of those people who correct others on spelling/grammar, but this is a pet peeve of mine: it's "voila" (french), not "wala".

[gahahaha]

It almost makes sense if he meant "wallah"

"""Just sends a simple SMS/text and I promise by God, you are in."""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallah_(Arabic)

He didn't mean that of course...

[dorian-graph]

Another possible misunderstanding is that "wala" in Filipino means to be missing/absent.

I was confused for a moment before I thought of "voila".

[kumarski]

hahahahahaha. I love this thread.

[fabrice_d]

It's actually "voilà" in real French... :P

[camus2]

ah , mais tout le monde peut se tromper,surtout avec le français, ou il est difficile de savoir comment un mot s'écrit tant qu'on ne l'a pas lu...

[tincholio]

où ;)

[gulbrandr]

Your french is pretty good!

[guiomie]

L'arroseur devient l'arrosé ... ahah

[coldtea]

Yep. And it's "per se" (Latin for: "in itself", "as it is") and not "per say" which doesn't mean anything at all.

[why-el]

Usually with loan words like this that are used enough, a spelling transformation is inevitable. I mean, I am sure voila itself is someone's pet peeve since its really "vois là". :)

[brianmcc]

I'd missed that initially; I'm amused that someone's gone all this time thinking "wala" is just a noise people make to indicate "done!"

[guelo]

Oh, that's what he meant.

[mverwijs]

Unless it's a wordplay, like Wuala(.com).

[mintplant]

Is that what that's supposed to be? I always pronounced it "Woo-allah" in my head.

[mverwijs]

I'm not sure if that's what it's supposed to be. But that's what I made of it. :)

[tincholio]

I was going to say the same... except it's "voilà"

[maw]

Muphry's law strikes again!

[chime]

> Lets you create Groups. This sounds simple but imagine wanting to talk to your core family members in 1 text ? Whatsapp lets you do that with no pain.

That is the #1 feature for my family. I'm in the US, my sister is in India, and our parents travel all over the world. Nearly every day, we post something to our group chat. Be it photos, personal news updates, or questions to one another, we actively use it almost daily. I have an iPhone and I think they have Androids.

[dodders]

+1

Siblings in England, USA and Australia and we all use the group chat.

[josefresco]

"Easy to invite others. Just sends a simple SMS/text"

and then

"In countries like the US, SMS/Texting is very expensive...Whatsapp solved this problem"

You need texting (a X dollar/month service) to use the service ... which solves the problem of... expensive texting?

I always found that to be somewhat odd, using a service you're trying to replace/compete with as the sole authenticating factor.

Edit: I realized after actually using the app, they do in fact offer an alternative authentication method (call). You have to try (and fail) at the texting method first.

Also, in response to derefr (I deleted my ignorant parent comment), I block texting as even if you don't pay for a plan, you still get random spam texts that you must page for (even if you didn't ask for them)

[oijaf888]

You send a text to invite someone to download the app and then you transition all your discussion over to their network instead of the SMS network. Hence solving the problem of expensive texts.

[coldtea]

>You need texting (a X dollar/month service) to use the service ... which solves the problem of... expensive texting?

Yes. Because texting in most countries has limits (e.g 200 sms per month, for more you pay an amount per text) while you can use WhatsApp for as many texts as you like.

And texting includes MMS (texting with images, sound etc), which is free in WhatsApp, but costs extra in most countries (can even go like $1 per text or more).

[codegeek]

What I mean is that most of us already have data plans these days and we are already paying for it. Why pay extra for texting when we can use something like whatsapp that uses the data plan. Not to mention the crazy International texting charges. Even if you have unlimited texting from say T-mobile, you will pay for international texts because the unlimited is only for domestic texts.

[prostoalex]

It's somewhat of a weaker argument, considering that in most of the world MTs (mobile-terminated messages) are free, with charges applying only for MOs (mobile-originated).

Also, even in the US, a combo voice+text plan with heavy texting is still going to be cheaper for a combo voice+data plan, so average user ends up paying more money, not less.

[eru]

People already have a data plan for other reasons.

[prostoalex]

Most of the world doesn't

http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile...

[leoedin]

Mobile plans vary significantly between countries. Using the US pricing structure as an example simply doesn't work. Just because a data plan is more expensive in the US doesn't necessarily mean it will be more expensive elsewhere.

[eru]

Yes. What I meant was: voice + sms plan does not replace a data plan. A data plan plus WhatsApp (and perhaps Skype) can replace a voice + sms plan.

[rand_r]

Big difference between a one-time invite cost and the cost of continually texting/messaging someone.

[edwinnathaniel]

I have a phone with no data plan so I can't use WhatsApp just to let you know... :D

In countries like Indonesia where SMS is almost free, they still use Whatsapp because of the Network effect.

Groups is the biggest one. It helps SELLING. YES, call it e-Commerce 3.0! This is how HOUSEWIVES sell stuffs. Through Whatsapp OR BBM.

[rgovind]

>Groups is the biggest one. It helps SELLING. YES, call it e-Commerce 3.0! This is how HOUSEWIVES sell stuffs. Through Whatsapp OR BBM.

Can you please elaborate on this.. How does it work? Any links?

[edwinnathaniel]

What needs to elaborate? You 'spam' the groups with "new items, coming next week, here's the pic and price"

Something similar to this: http://storify.com/cbccommunity/kuwait-entrepreneurs-use-ins...

In the old days, you sent SMSes but you can't spam multiple people at once. You can only send one SMS at a time (unless you program something, which Housewives don't do...)

BBM supports Groups already but it's kind of slow (at least the old BBM anyway). I don't know if WhatsApp is any faster or whether WhatsApp has any limit on how many Groups member you can have (because it is essentially almost like Twitter).

[krexit]

There's a 50 user limit in a WhatsApp group.

[rachellaw]

different poster (singapore)

50 is a good number of people, especially if you're doing sample sales i.e. 1pm - 4pm special sales in a secret location by XX designer. For instance you can whatsapp a group of well-known fashion bloggers, who may forward the invite to a group of friends etc etc creating a semi-exclusive shopping experience

I've seen people do it for yard sales too (what we call void deck sales) It's a bit like a tupperware party.

[wslh]

And you forgot about the capability of sending other rich content like a map! ;-)

[Graham24]

how long until mobile phones are purely data devices and cannot make calls or send texts, but do all of that via apps?

isn't that why facebook wanted WhatsApp, as they see this is a future of mobile phones?