Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
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.
Remember all the rumors of a "Facebook phone"? Whatever happened to that?
The Facebook phones are HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha
Ignoring the wedding story from this/yesterday morning, the last Facebook article was on Wednesday. I think you're over-reacting.
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
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.
No idea about other countries, but some Telcos in Australia offer(ed) free Facebook access plus various other 'sites' on your monthly plan - however all the ones I've ever seen supplemented *existing* data plans - doesn't explain how this works though.
I've used Snaptu as a light interface for accessing FB, when the other applications weren't working or just annoying me (looking at you Nokia S^3!)
Boolean logic: True, False, and File not found.
They're not talking about smart phones. Feature phones traditionally don't have user-installable apps, but ship with a couple of applications (or "features" if you will) installed by default. Pretty much every single phone released in the last 10 years that isn't a smart phone is a feature phone.
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
It says an estimated $70M. I imagine the estimates are probably made by economist type people who have a good handle on what the value of the company is.