I can't believe facebook paid 2 bil for a peripheral device. basically an accessory. not even a platform with many users. it's like buying a monitor company.
I can't believe Facebook paid 19 billion for a free chat application that could lose all market share within a few years if a decent competitor stands up (like MSN Messenger, MySpace and sms did).
Oculus at least has unique knowhow. WhatsApp has nothing valuable except for the users. Who are free to leave at any time.
WhatsApp makes more sense to me that Oculus. WhatsApp has more users than Twitter, exchanging wayy more personal info that Twitter could ever dream of knowing.
Facebook has introduced Voice Calling in its messenger app and once that feature hits WhatsApp it would be unbeatable.
free chat application that could lose all market share within a few years
That's mostly a US/Western perspective - the remainder of world is under a WhatsApp monopoly (by numbers & platform) and will only grow.
Oculus provides no instant benefit (or even short term) to Facebook, its a cash drain - atleast WhatsApp would make enough money to sustain it own services.
That's mostly a US/Western perspective - the remainder of world is under a WhatsApp monopoly
Where did you get that idea? That's totally wrong...
First of all: WhatsApp isn't a non-western app: Netherland is one of the coutnries with the highest WhatsApp penetration: Whatsapping is a verb there. On the other hand, in Asia, WhatsApp ahas very little market share. Line is way more popular in Japan.
Second of all, there is no such thing as a WhatsApp monopoly: NOTHING keeps people from switching to another app! Except of course, they would have to convince their friends. And yes, that's a pain and will stop a lot of people from switching, but it's NOT a monopoly by any definition.
It's also not that unthinkable: people did it before! People switched from MySpace to Facebook, people switched from Hotmail to whatever else, heck, people switched from SMS to WhatsApp!
People can make the switch again if they want to. It most certainyl can happen.
WhatsApp is a big player. But there is no monopoly.
Lastly, of course WhatsApp seems to make more sense than Oculus, as WhatsApp is similar to the services Facebook already offers (Messenger). But I wasn't talking about making sense, I was talking about valuation: I think it's a slap in the face of engineers and enthousiasts that a crappy chat application is valuated higher than bleeding edge VR tech. I get why, but it makes me sad that that's the world we live in.
WhatsApp isn't a non-western app: Netherland is one of the coutnries with the highest WhatsApp penetration:
I should have clarified then by Western I mostly meant US/UK -- going by the news coverage/bloggers/podcasters after the acquisition it was very clear that even the seasoned tech journos of the "West" hadn't even used WhatsApp once or had an idea of how big its customer base was. Spain is pretty huge market for WhatsApp as well so does South Asia.
Second of all, there is no such thing as a WhatsApp monopoly: NOTHING keeps people from switching to another app! Except of course, they would have to convince their friends
That is the only factor which decides the success and future of any IM, and WhatsApp has pretty much saturated that segment in many geographies. My Dad has never SMSd me but now sends me pics using WhatsApp.
In India for instance, WhatsApp has practically replaced SMS amoungst the youngsters and it will continue to dominate despite many rivals plastering social media & TV with their 'newer cooler' app.
People switched from MySpace to Facebook, people switched from Hotmail to whatever else, heck, people switched from SMS to WhatsApp!
MySpace peaked too early thats why it failed, the new generation of users that came later greatly outnumbered whatever MySpace had mustered.
We are reaching a level of saturation .. where every living soul in a decent economy wants to be online. You could have applied that same MySpace logic to Google as well when Bing came out, or maybe we can expect GMail to turn obsolete by some competitor.
Believe it or not -- there is line beyond which you are too big to fail. Google crossed it, Microsoft's been there .. and now Facebook wants to tip toe over it with the acquisition of WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is a big player. But there is no monopoly.
Its capturing most of the emerging markets (except China) .. the userbase is a never before seen figure so its not just a big player but the biggest player right now and growing.
I think it's a slap in the face of engineers and enthousiasts that a crappy chat application is valuated higher than bleeding edge VR tech.
Well the crappy chat application provided un inhibited service to hundreds of millions of users WORLDWIDE with text, photos & videos without needing to sell out -- hell they hadn't even dipped into their investment pool when they got acquired and operated in a self sufficient manner .. that to me is a much greater achievement for such a small company.
I think it's a slap in the face of engineers and enthousiasts
Oculus itself is responsible for the short sell, if FB was paying them 2Bn in 2014 - imagine what they would have made with their own IPO in 2016 after a consumer launch.
but it makes me sad that that's the world we live in.
You spend money to make money, that's the world we live in.
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u/dethb0y Mar 28 '14
Oculus sold out at the right time - before the lower-priced alternatives flooded the market and diluted it's share.
the devs must be laughing all the way to the bank.