Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WhatsApp To End Support For BlackBerry, Nokia, and Other Older Operating Systems (whatsapp.com)

Posted by timothy on from the not-even-the-back-burner dept.

nerdyalien writes: While everybody is immersed in the Apple vs. FBI case, WhatsApp has posted a blog entry that could potentially alter the mobile landscape as we know it today. By the end of 2016, WhatsApp will no longer support many older mobile operating systems from BlackBerry, Nokia, Android and Windows Phone. Moving forward, WhatsApp will only support the latest and greatest iPhone, Android and Windows Phone platforms. With over 1 billion active users, and the backing of Facebook, is WhatsApp finally reducing the mobile landscape to a three-horse race ?

30 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. 3 horse? by bigpat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With over 1 billion active users, and the backing of Facebook, is WhatsApp finally reducing the mobile landscape to a three-horse race ?

    Seriously Windows phone is less than 3%. The only thing keeping it in the vicinity of relevant is the money that Microsoft spends marketing it.

    1. Re:3 horse? by DogDude · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously Windows phone is less than 3%. The only thing keeping it in the vicinity of relevant is the money that Microsoft spends marketing it.

      I know that I couldn't care less how many other people use Windows Phone. I use it because it's a better product.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    2. Re:3 horse? by SQLGuru · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If your security people haven't banned Windows Phone from your network it means they aren't scanning it properly. Most likely just looking at O/S level problems and assuming that because more problems are known on Android that means it's actually worse.

      The security model on Windows Phone is actually more secure than Android. You can't write an app that will stay running in the background "forever" and your apps can't cross over to mess with other apps. So were I a security guy, I'd be more likely to approve a Windows Phone on my network than an Android phone. And with the smaller market share there are a whole lot less people even trying to attack the platform which makes it that much better (though it isn't really a security measure).

    3. Re:3 horse? by bigpat · · Score: 2

      Seriously Windows phone is less than 3%. The only thing keeping it in the vicinity of relevant is the money that Microsoft spends marketing it.

      I know that I couldn't care less how many other people use Windows Phone. I use it because it's a better product.

      Sure, I use Linux because it is a better desktop OS than Windows, but I wouldn't call its less than 2% market share a "horse race" with Windows.

    4. Re:3 horse? by Kjella · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sure, I use Linux because it is a better desktop OS than Windows, but I wouldn't call its less than 2% market share a "horse race" with Windows.

      In other words, Linux is just as irrelevant on the desktop as Windows is on mobile? Them's fighting words - well nerd rage words - here, I'll get the popcorn.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    5. Re:3 horse? by cbhacking · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The world is not homogenous. In many areas, Windows Phone's market share is far higher than its global average. A lot of those areas are also areas of very high WhatsApp usage, so it makes sense that the company would want to keep that market.

      When I was in India for a couple weeks last year, I saw more Windows phones than iPhones (according to an admittedly old article - 2013 - iOS has only a 2.3% market share in India, Android has 91%, Windows Phone has 5.4%). Based on what I saw last year, Windows Phone and iOS has probably both made gains there - if you have more recent statistics, it'd be interesting to see them - but Windows Phone more than iOS. Another example where WP market share exceeds its global average (even though, unlike India, it's still only in third place) is Europe last year: 10.1% across UK, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.

      In the case of Europe, some of that is probably brand loyalty to Nokia, even though they were already owned by Microsoft at that point (although if that were the case, I'd expect northern Europe - especially Finland - to feature in the list). In the case of India, it's simpler: low-end Windows phones are nearly as cheap as low-end Android phones (you can get a Windows phone, new, contract-free, and SIM-unlocked, for $50 even in the US if you know where to look, or a bit less if you don't mind previous-generation hardware) but are much more functional. A Lumia 520 - one of the lowest of the low when it comes to Windows Phone devices - is still supported and can be upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile. This on a handset that launched as a minimum-specs WP8.0 device in 2013 and available on Amazon.com for $40 new. An equivalent Android phone would have been lucky to get the first major OS upgrade (8.0 to 8.1, for Windows Phone), or even be hardware-compatible with the second.

      --
      There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
    6. Re:3 horse? by iampiti · · Score: 2

      I fail to see why an application running in the background all the time is a security problem. It'd be if the OS let it access whatever it wanted but applications in Android usually have limited permissions.
      Also, I'd like my smartphone to be more like a PC (what, no daemons?) not less

  2. Re:LOL ... whatever ... by johanw · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, you're wrong. Whatsapp may be relatively small in the US, where most people pay so much for their mobile connection that the providers could afford to deliver free sms with the subscription. In most other countries the providers have treated sms (and certainly mms) as a cash cow, and are now repaid with the popularity of internet message services that remove the need for sms. WhatsApp is the largest of those services, and the most widely used one too. Others like Wechat or Line are mostly used in China resp. Japan. I use sms onbly as a last fallback, when I need to message someone with no mobile internet or an old prone.

  3. Re:WhatsApp? by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Whatsapp is extremely popular in Europe, where text messages are often billed separately on phone accounts. Most people I know use it, whether they are 10, 30, or 50.

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

  4. Re:LOL ... whatever ... by ledow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not quite.

    It's the de-facto replacement for stupendously limiting and expensive text and picture messages, which outside of contracts can run into thousands per Mb of actual data.

    All with an app that cost 69p per year, free for the first year, and has just recently been made free forever.

    It's like loading up MSN Messenger on your phone so you don't have to send a text. It just so happens to have made a brand name for itself in the process.

    If telcos didn't charge ridiculous amounts for picture messages - especially from abroad - their business model would be dead overnight. It basically uses your data connection to do what the telcos should have been doing all along, but would rather sting you.

  5. LOL by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 2

    WhatsApp doesn't need to do anything. Reality has already reduced mobile to a two-horse race.

    --
    Do you have ESP?
  6. Bigger than you think by Rinisari · · Score: 4, Interesting

    WhatsApp's claim to fame originally was its ability to run on virtually anything, including the J2ME phones popular in the US and Europe in the mid-2000s. Those phones at least were still prevalent in many African and middle-eastern countries just a couple of years ago.

    Have these markets also developed such that they are basically Android or iOS now?

    --
    Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
    1. Re:Bigger than you think by gaiageek · · Score: 2

      With fully capable Android phones dropping below $10, Android is very much the smartphone OS that powers the developing world. There will always be holdouts who use dumbphones, but I'm guessing they represent a tiny percentage of WhatsApp users which is growing smaller literally by the day.

      --
      www.gaiageek.com
    2. Re:Bigger than you think by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 4, Informative

      you Merkins are so removed from reality...

      when were you last in africa? battery life is the #1 deciding factor for a phone, most people have sporadic access to sporadic power. apart from middle class, people don't respond to text messages via text messages but by ringing the sender once or twice for yes/no. i've seen this being quite elaborate - pauses, longer+shorter rings, etc. the biggest banks in africa are partnering with mobile phone operators because there was risk M-Pesa (and its various localised versions) would become the de-facto currency of the continent. people simply pay each other by transferring call credit. there is very little use for smartphones outside of richer circles in bigger cities (with supporting infrastructure).

    3. Re:Bigger than you think by gaiageek · · Score: 3, Interesting

      you Merkins are so removed from reality...

      I'm speaking from having just spent the past month in Central America, riding the hot and cramped local buses and seeing people using almost exclusively Android smartphones (still some dumbphones). Is that what you call "so far removed from reality"? Regarding Africa, like I said, there will always be hold outs for whatever reason (battery life, simplicity, durability), but what you describe isn't really relevant to the topic, which is WhatsApp no longer being supported on older devices. Those people using missed calls for replies aren't even using the data connection on their phone, so they're not exactly going to be affected by WhatsApp not being supported on them, are they?

      --
      www.gaiageek.com
    4. Re:Bigger than you think by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 3, Informative

      Have these markets also developed such that they are basically Android or iOS now?

      No. At least certainly not a "modern" Android phone. You can still buy an Android 2.1 phone, for instance. This is a bunch of Silicon Valley people unable to see that their own experience and situation is rare.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
  7. Re:WhatsApp? by OzPeter · · Score: 2

    Another "messaging" app that somehow messages differently than regular text messages? Somehow, I doubt that their target market of dim-witted 10 year old kids is going to decide which phone OS's continue into the future.

    In a lot of markets (EG South America) WhatsApp is used by the majority of mobile users due to the pricing of text messages vs pure data because most people in the world don't have unlimited text messages in their plans. So I think you need to revise your opinion of the WhatsApp target market to reflect that other people face situations different than your own and as such have different motivations to use things like WhatsApp.

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  8. they aren't going "latest, greatest" by Jonah+Hex · · Score: 5, Informative

    Moving forward, WhatsApp will only support the latest and greatest iPhone, Android and Windows Phone platforms.

    They didn't say that, they are actually supporting older versions, just not REALLY old versions

    So, by the end of 2016, we will be ending support for WhatsApp Messenger on the following mobile platforms:
    Android 2.1 and Android 2.2
    Windows Phone 7.1

    --
    Horror & SciFi Erotic Nudes
  9. Just What Exactly is Whats App doing... by Viol8 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... that is so complex that a simple messaging app can't support older versions of an OS? All it does is send text and picture data which AFAIK was supported by phones 10 years ago before smart phones even came on the market. So WTF excuse can they come up with that sounds genuine?

    "they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future."

    Oh riiiight. So they can't be bothered to continue current support even though it means NO EFFORT on their part. They just want everyone to see the New Shiny when it comes out. Idiots.

    1. Re:Just What Exactly is Whats App doing... by johanw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      End to end encryption with the Axolotl protocol.

  10. Tail wagging the dog? by grimmjeeper · · Score: 2

    With over 1 billion active users, and the backing of Facebook, is WhatsApp finally reducing the mobile landscape to a three-horse race ?

    This summary is entirely backwards. The mobile market is already a 2 horse race (with Windows phone only still on the track because of the insane money Microsoft has poured into it). WhatsApp is only responding to that fact, not driving it. There is no point in them supporting outdated products with < 1% of the market and no future. WhatsApp support (or lack thereof now) will have absolutely zero impact on the market.

  11. Re:But why? by johanw · · Score: 2

    They want to remove support because they can't or won't port their new Axolotl encryption library to thiose OSes. And they want to remove the option to send unencrypted messages completely to give the FBI, NSA, BND and similar organisations the finger.

  12. Re:WhatsApp? by dj245 · · Score: 2

    Another "messaging" app that somehow messages differently than regular text messages? Somehow, I doubt that their target market of dim-witted 10 year old kids is going to decide which phone OS's continue into the future.

    In a lot of markets (EG South America) WhatsApp is used by the majority of mobile users due to the pricing of text messages vs pure data because most people in the world don't have unlimited text messages in their plans. So I think you need to revise your opinion of the WhatsApp target market to reflect that other people face situations different than your own and as such have different motivations to use things like WhatsApp.

    It is also great in locations where there is wifi but no or spotty cell service. I rode around on a mexican-flagged ship for a couple weeks in the Gulf of Mexico. Whatsapp was extremely popular with the crew. The wifi was unreliable and slow, but text and voice messages on WhatsApp went through fine most of the time. It fills a need, so therefore people use it.

    Many of these services are somewhat regional. As another example, Line is very popular in Asia and some other regions, but almost unheard of in the US.

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  13. Re:Blackberry has moved to Android already by acoustix · · Score: 2

    They have one Android handset and continue to sell devices with BB10 and BBOS. They have customers that continue to demand BBOS and BB10.

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
  14. Re:I understand the value of OTT messaging apps by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 2

    In my work we use WhatsApp for internal communication. SMS doesn't allow for group conversations, nor does it confirm messages are received by all parties. And, of course, iMessage is iPhone-only. Plus, there's a browser interface (so I don't have to actually type into my phone.) I'm no schill for WhatsApp, I'd be just as happy using any other app that has these features..but there is a potential place for it that's a step up from SMS.

  15. Re:Blackberry has moved to Android already by edtice1559 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm a huge Blackberry fan and I'm actually excited about a Priv (once I can get one for less than $700 that is) There are two great things about the Blackberry Q devices. The keyboard and the hub. If you haven't ever used Blackberry Hub you don't know what your missing. Kind of like somebody who has never had air conditioning. It used to be that Android security was too weak to build anything actually secure. (Give an app every permission it wants or don't install it). That's no longer the case. Since it's not the QNX based OS that is the differentiating feature, this isn't a surprise. The hub only works wonderfully if the apps are implemented properly. The hub allows composting of data between multiple apps without any of it leaking. So you get a list of things in chronological order. Also can do things like look in all of your address books for incoming calls. (iOS and Android can't do this if the address books are in virtual secure areas which is how all enterprises configure). And of course a keyboard.

  16. Won't affect BB10 much by ottdmk · · Score: 2

    While as a Blackberry fan I'm always sorry to see a company cease BB support, this won't matter too much. The Amazon app store carries WhatsApp, and BB10 devices can install Android apps through the Amazon store as easily as native apps.

  17. Re:WhatsApp? by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 2

    Last January Whatsapp has removed the 1$ fee, so it's now free indefinitely. https://blog.whatsapp.com/615/...

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

  18. Windows Phone versus Android by hankwang · · Score: 2

    The security model on Windows Phone is actually more secure than Android. You can't write an app that will stay running in the background "forever" and your apps can't cross over to mess with other apps.

    Not that I'm an Android developer, nor do I have any experience with WP, but I had the impression that Android apps can only run in the background as a service, and any app that wants to do so uninterruptedly will need to announce itself in the notification bar. So, they can run in the background forever, but not without you noticing. I don't see why this aspect makes Android less secure than WP.

    And I have no idea what you mean by implying that Android apps can "cross over to mess with other apps". Android apps can't see each other's data.

    --
    Avantslash: low-bandwidth mobile slashdot.
  19. Re:I understand the value of OTT messaging apps by jimbo · · Score: 2

    I live in North America now but I have lived and worked in three different countries. Staying in touch with friends Internationally is free on internet based messaging apps, not so with SMS and MMS I assure you. I use Skype, WhatsApp and Google Hangouts depending on what my contacts prefer.

    BTW: You use Skype but think WhatsApp is for kids - they do the same things...