It emerged this week, in an article in the Wall Street Journal, that Snapchat, a Californian start-up that develops a smartphone app of the same name popular among teens, recently spurned a US$3bn-plus all-cash offer from Facebook to buy it out. The offer value was at least three times the already
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Until now the largest social network in South Africa, Mxit, which claims to have 7,4m active monthly users, has been knocked from the top spot by Facebook, with an estimated 9,4m active users, a number the researchers say may actually be on the conservative side
“It’s all about the ecosystem.” That’s a catchphrase much bandied about these days. For mobile device manufacturers, having a range of quality software is as important as the hardware. Perhaps even more important. Two companies, Finland’s Nokia and Canada’s
PicPlz, a competitor to photo-sharing service Instagram, has told users it will be shutting down its service at the beginning of next month and deleting all images off its servers. Users can download their images before 3 July. In a post on its website, PicPlz says a decision has been taken “to move on
Amid rumours that Facebook is considering building its own smartphone and is looking to acquire facial recognition service face.com comes another and arguably more sensible bit of speculation. Facebook is said to be looking to acquire Opera Software in
Apple is set to release a major update to its cloud service, iCloud, that will include new features for sharing images and may be positioned to compete with Instagram, the social photography service that was recently acquired by Facebook for US$1bn in cash
Facebook knows one of the biggest challenges it faces is monetising its mobile platforms and so it’s gradually overhauling them to do just that. When it originally filed its S-1 documents ahead of its listing on the stock market, Facebook conceded that its inability
Most companies preparing for a huge stockmarket flotation would try to keep a low profile. Not Facebook. On 9 April, the giant social network stunned the business world by announcing it was buying Instagram, a photo-sharing social network, for US$1bn in cash and stock. This surprising combination, swiftly dubbed “Facestagram”, has
It’s like 1999 all over again. On Monday, Facebook announced it was buying photo-sharing company Instagram for US$1bn, netting the start-up’s cofounder, Kevin Systrom, a cool $400m. It’s paying over the odds, but the deal makes sense for Facebook ahead of its flotation on the stock market. At first glance and based on the
A lot of people are scratching their heads this week at the news that Facebook is acquiring photo-sharing site Instagram for US$1bn. The allure of retro-styled photo filters is pretty weak justification for a price tag that high. But of course it’s not about the photo filters, it’s about the fact that Instagram engages your