Facebook May Have Also Acquired WhatsApp to Avoid Future Competition

WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum insisted that the Facebook deal to acquire WhatsApp would not have happened if Facebook were to interfere in WhatsApp’s operations. With Facebook’s resources, WhatsApp may not have to worry too much about having to generate revenue but as Koum said in his blog post, everything remains as it is, including the $0.99 a year subscription service. This acquisition gives Facebook protection against potential competition that it may have had to face if WhatsApp falls to another company’s hands.

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Mark Zuckerberg: Advertising is Not the Way to Monetize Messaging Systems

Instagram was Facebook’s blockbuster deal back in April 2012 when the company announced that it was acquiring the photo sharing network for $1 billion, a deal that ultimately closed at $715 million in Q3 2012. The discrepancy in price was due to Facebook’s falling stock price at that time and the fact that over 60 percent of the acquisition was paid in shares. Instagram slowly rolled out its revenue strategy through implementing in-stream ads in late 2013. With this WhatsApp deal, some fear that it will also follow the advertising path.
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Photo Sharing Plays a Big Part in Facebook’s Acquisition of WhatsApp

If you thought that Viber’s acquisition by Rakuten last week was a major news in the mobile industry, today’s $19 billion Facebook acquisition of WhatsApp would be a massive earthquake sending shockwaves across the entire planet. With Instagram and now WhatsApp under its ownership, Facebook becomes an even larger photo-sharing entity on the planet.

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WhatsApp has a Payment Problem in Indonesia

WhatsApp may hold the title of the mobile messaging king in Indonesia as far as On Device survey is concerned, but its reign at the top is highly dependent on the likelihood of Indonesian consumers paying the annual $1 fee to continue using it for another year. Nobody will doubt the triviality of the amount because it’s something that people would be willing to pay even in multiple increments since a five year subscription will only cost $5. The problem lies in the method of payment.

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Taking a Stab at Mobile Advertising the Kakao Way

During the chat with Kakao co-CEO Sirgoo Lee on Thursday at Startup Asia, he also discussed about the popularity and direction of mobile advertising, specifically about Plus Friend, the premium branded channel that the company created to attract businesses to reach mobile consumers in a more effective way. Lee also dismissed the rumors that Kakao is going to IPO anytime soon as mentioned by Business Korea earlier this month.

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Indonesia Surpassed Japan as KakaoTalk’s Largest Market Outside of Korea

During Startup Asia on Thursday we had a chance to spend some time talking to Kakao co-CEO Sirgoo Lee who shared quite a bit of insight into how KakaoTalk performs in the Indonesian market, why Kakao’s games are not popular in the country, understanding and adapting to local market needs, and having Tencent as a major investor. As it turned out, Indonesia is now Kakao’s second largest market with 13 million registered users.

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KakaoTalk Growing Rapidly in Indonesia, Planning Something Big

Kakao is apparently comfortable with KakaoTalk’s position in Indonesia. Despite lagging in popularity compared to its competitors, KakaoTalk remains within the top 15 on Google Play in Indonesia and the company is pressing on with a new program that it claims will improve its revenue and popularity.

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With 20 Million New Active Users, BBM is Off to a Strong Start

BlackBerry announced overnight that its recently released BBM apps for iOS and Android have gained 20 million active users in just one week, making the total 80 million including BlackBerry device customers. After reporting a million installs of its unauthorized Android app during the aborted launch day in September, the company has bounced back. Over the weekend it had removed the waiting list it originally imposed on consumers to manage the load on its servers, finally allowing anyone to sign up and use BBM on iOS or Android immediately.

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Viber Launches Its Latest BlackBerry App, Now Supports Bahasa Indonesia

More and more mobile communication companies enter Indonesia. Viber, which is based in Cyprus recently launched the latest version for their BlackBerry app and adds support for its Indonesian users by adding Indonesian interface to the app. DailySocial had the opportunity to talk to Talmon Marco, CEO of Viber a few months ago on Viber’s commitment and strategic views on Indonesia. Continue reading Viber Launches Its Latest BlackBerry App, Now Supports Bahasa Indonesia

KakaoTalk Hadirkan Fitur Free Call Untuk BlackBerry OS di Indonesia

Merasa perlu bersaing demi menjaring pengguna lebih luas, KakaoTalk, aplikasi penyedia layanan mobile messaging yang iklannya akhir-akhir ini sering beredar di stasiun TV nasional, belum lama ini mengumumkan kehadiran fitur free call atau telepon gratis antar sesama pengguna pada platform BlackBerry. Langkah yang cukup berani diambil oleh KakaoTalk ini dipandang sebagai upaya KakaoTalk dalam bersaing dengan kompetitor lainnya. Continue reading KakaoTalk Hadirkan Fitur Free Call Untuk BlackBerry OS di Indonesia