Translated from: 台灣：行內人解讀Whatsapp的價值與接下來的社群通訊App併購

Many people in Taiwan are puzzled about the news that Facebook has announced to buy Whatsapp for US$16 billion. Compared to LINE, Whatsapp is completely marginalized in Taiwan, and Wechat almost creates buzz on a daily basis. Why does Facebook spend so much on Whatsapp? Cubie founder Tempo Feng shares his views on his Tumblr.

According to information after acquisition announcement, Whatsapp users are growing by 1 million per day. It has huge slices of market in Europe and other markets with low smartphone penetration rates, including Latin America, India and Africa. Growth potential on users and smartphones in these markets is much higher than Asia, and it’s one the of reasons why Whatsapp is attractive.

While other instant messaging applications are busy launching new features, such as stickers, photos, payments, drawing and others, Whatsapp only focuses on replacing SMS. It’s the first to collaborate with telecom operators in many countries, such as free roaming or unlimited data plans. Extensions by other applications are also doing well, says Feng, and they mostly receive positive feedbacks, but Whatsapp is unique by choosing another path.

I also ask Tempo for his insights on future acquisitions. Will giants like Facebook and Google continue to buy instant messaging applications? Who are possible targets in Asia? Several companies in Asia, such as Kakao, LINE and Wechat, are in fact quite big, says Feng, so they may acquire companies in other regions as well. Rakuten recently buys Viber for US$900 million is a case in point. Acquisition is a faster approach than expanding markets themselves.

Generally speaking, Feng thinks it’s a good deal for Facebook to buy Whatsapp. It’s rumored that Kakao intends to buy Tango, but Kik is a better choice from his perspective. While Tencent names Cubie as the next international acquisition target, Feng declines to comment at the moment.

Although Facebook claims Whatsapp will remain independent in operation in the future, and Whatapps affirms it will change “nothing“, some people still expect Whatapp will be the best weapon for Facebook to challenge monopolies like Google Play and App Store. Others suggest Whatsapp should be a publicly listed company itself to maximize profits. No matter what they say, It’s time for me to reinstall Whatsapp.

Translated from: 台灣：行內人解讀Whatsapp的價值與接下來的社群通訊App併購