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Comment by anigbrowl | Hacker News Reader

What's special about Whatsapp that made them choose this platform rather than (say) email, any other chap app, or even Facebook itself?

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It's simple. It's instant. Not everyone (especially in Asia) has a Facebook account or even wants on. SMS was already what was powering communications in Asia. Whatsapp took SMS , added images, group chat and removed the cost.

Also, it was free and works on Android (Very important in South Asia).

Many older people get smartphones just to use whatsapp to communicate with others. I'm not joking. I upgraded my mom to a smartphone against her will so that she can use whatsapp to communicate with friends and family more easily.

I guess I'm confused because there are lots of messaging apps, eg http://personalweb.about.com/od/mobile-messaging/tp/8-Mobile... and indeed Android's built-in messaging. I'm not trying to dismiss whatsapp, just having a hard time seeing what makes it distinctive.

Supposedly they have a huge install base in many (non-US) markets. The idea is probably that network effects will make it so that they'll continue to be the dominant player for a long time.

They were the first good option on Android and iOS and Blackberry when Blackberry was going down hill. In countries where BBM was strong and then started to fade, users went to WhatsApp. It used your phone number so everyone in your address book was using WhatsApp. I saw this first hand in Canada. Kik also did well but didn't gain traction like WhatsApp. Line & WeChat were/are East Asia focused. MessageMe was late to the game.

Thanks for the succinct summary.

Network effects, probably. Given a choice, I'd use something else, but all my friends and contacts are on WhatsApp.

That's my impression too. I can see it's good at what it does, but it looks like a severe case of right place at the right time in an otherwise ordinary messaging app. I wonder if they decided early to focus on language localization and so deliver the most polished-looking product in underserved markets.

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