Many of you may have heard of the sale of WhatsApp for $19 billion. None of the people who built the WhatsApp iPhone app and Android app will ever have to work again – $3 billion in cash and $16 billion in Facebook shares is a life changing experience.
What you might not have heard is that there is already a new challenger – Telegram app. Last weekend, according to reports, WhatsApp was down for 4 hours – for 4 hours the WhatsApp service was unusable. That is all it took to drive just under five million WhatsApp users to switch to Telegram app.
Telegram is similar in look and feel to WhatsApp, but its a little faster, and has Snapchat like security features.
If this rise and fall in app fortunes feels a little dizzying, you’re not alone in feeling that way. But there is one important take home message from this narrative: There is still room for a better communications app. And whatever you do, make sure your service is utterly reliable, because even a small break in service can cause substantial damage to your reputation.
Contact me if you have an idea for a communication app which you would like to discuss. I strongly recommend you download the hottest communication apps, both iPhone apps and Android Apps – Snapchat, Telegram, Whatsapp, and get a feel for what makes them so popular, while working on your idea. Because if you get the design of your new communication app right, the next billion dollar deal could be for you.