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Facebook Acquires Feature Phone App Maker Snaptu
Krystalo writes "Facebook has agreed to acquire Snaptu, an Israeli startup that makes Java-based feature phone apps, for an estimated $70 million. The acquisition, for which neither company would reveal financial details, is expected to close within a few weeks. Earlier this year, Facebook worked with the mobile development firm to build a feature phone app that is accessible free of data charges in various overseas markets. The company says the Facebook for Feature Phones app currently works on more than 2,500 devices."
Remember all the rumors of a "Facebook phone"? Whatever happened to that?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Feature phone is a term used to describe a low-end mobile phone that has less computing ability than a smartphone, but more capability than a "dumb phone".
TFA
“Our goal when we founded Snaptu in 2007 was to provide useful and innovative services to the 95 percent of mobile users that don’t have access to advanced smartphones,”
My reaction: just in time. If they have waited for 2-3 more years, Snaptu would have been extinct (due to the lack of "food" in the eco-system).
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
WTF . . .is a feature phone
I didn't know either. Wikipedia has this to say:
Feature phone is a term used to describe a low-end mobile phone that has less computing ability than a smartphone, but more capability than a "dumb phone". The term was originally used to describe mobile phones which had features which weren't available on most other contemporary mobile phones
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Wikipedia says a "feature phone" is a mobile phone less powerful than a smartphone. Some run MIDlets designed for J2ME; others run BREW apps. The advantage of carrying a feature phone is 1. no mandatory data bill and 2. easier to find prepaid carriers in the United States.
apparently it's a less-than-smartphone... i.e. capable of running J2ME apps (surprisingly, iPhone, Android and WP7 can't) but not 3rd party native apps.
So, what did the middle-manager in Facebook say to convince the heads to buy this company, i.e. what is Facebook's goal? Are they thinking of creating a library/platform for Java mobile apps so they can take advantage of social features? (i.e. annoy your FB-friends with wall posts?). Or is it just a too-much-money syndrome?
On the topic of mobile apps, allow me to shamelessly promote my own iPhone app. (Ugh, I feel dirty... but I want nice things :))
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
They can, it's just cheaper to buy somebody that's already put the effort into it, that way the risk is being paid by somebody else.
The whole point is you shouldn't *have* to google it, a decent editorial staff would have added that tidbit in. But like you said, this is slashdot, and the staff has stagnated.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Not brands, models. Hell, Nokia alone probably has half that many models. (well, maybe a bit of a stretch... but...)
Sent from my PDP-11
"accessible free of data charges in various overseas markets" Can anyone clarify for me how this works? Using a web app doesn't incur data fees?!
Ignoring the wedding story from this/yesterday morning, the last Facebook article was on Wednesday. I think you're over-reacting.
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I love you Michael Kristopeit bot <3
One of the few good things about monopolies was that a company like AT&T could afford to fund Bell Labs without having to answer to angry shareholders as to why they were wasting money on foolish things like transistors and UNIX, and on eggheads like Claude Shannon.
Because it had no comments.
Never heard of it. Seems the hype was louder than the product announcements.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
2,500 devices - are there really that many models of smart phone out there? I know there are a lot but not that many. Or do they mean that 2,500 users have this app installed?
Also I wonder how that "accessible free of data charges" is supposed to work. Is that a special contract or so? I have seen phone companies offering pretty cheap data plans with small amount of data, plus unlimited data for Facebook, Twitter and Gmail. Something like that, details I forgot, not interested myself, just interesting that such contracts exist. And then limited to the mobile versions of those sites, like m.facebook.com.
This is a great program for the not-so-smart phones like my "Sony Ericsson W610i". It gives easy access to Twitter as well as many other sites. I hope Facebook will still allow us to access Twitter.
next time read the FAQ you douchebag skin-flute player
why? what does it say?
rewriting history since 2109
is a feature phone
I'm optimistic this link will work; if not, its just a google timeline search graph for the phrase "feature phone"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbs=tl%3A1&q=feature+phone&aq=f&aqi=g3g-s1g6&aql=&oq=
It shows that phrase technically existed a decade ago, but in the last year or so its usage rate has gone exponential upward.
I had never heard that phrase until the last couple months, now it seems all /. stories involving cellphones must contain the phrase "feature phone" to refer to anything that is not iphone, android, blackberry, or the also-rans. Basically, its a cell phone with a touchscreen instead of a keyboard and its really expensive, thats all.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
How can they say they won't reveal any financial details when they have already disclosed the purchase price? Or, is that not a financial detail?
It's also easier than dealing with all of the ridiculous software patents (in that at least some of it has already been dealt with).
No. While the risk is being taken by them, it is you, in the end, who is paying for the risk. It's not about being cheaper or more expensive. It's about the investment being stable and predictable as opposed to risky and unpredictable.
Since when do phones have a mandatory data bill?
Since the majority of U.S. customers decided that they aren't willing to pay $500 for a smartphone. The beginning of the end of this came when Sprint began to offer Android smartphones under its prepaid Virgin Mobile brand in the fourth quarter of 2011.
bought a SIM card
Two out of the three major wireless carriers in the United States use CDMA2000 instead of GSM, and instead of CSIM cards, they program the subscriber identity directly into the phone. That's why one doesn't just see SIM cards for sale in the United States; instead, one sees handsets branded with a carrier's logo, and the vast majority of them are feature phones.
overseas
Oh, that's the difference.
now it seems all /. stories involving cellphones must contain the phrase "feature phone" to refer to anything that is not iphone, android, blackberry, or the also-rans.
It's a useful distinction because the monthly cost of service is lower for a feature phone than a smartphone. The vast majority of phones sold for use with the U.S. prepaid carriers are feature phones; prepaid BlackBerry and Android-powered phones weren't available until just a few months ago.
We should still be discussing what AT&T just did to the economy by dumping $39 Billion on T-Mobile to remove the only agile competitor from the market. $70M for a few wigets doesn't seem to rate a line in the classifieds.