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

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 ?

Comments

3 horse?

[bigpat]

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.

Re:3 horse?

[DogDude]

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.

Re:LOL ... whatever ...

[johanw]

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.

Bigger than you think

[Rinisari]

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?

Re:Bigger than you think

[greenfruitsalad]

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).

they aren't going "latest, greatest"

[Jonah Hex]

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

Re:Just What Exactly is Whats App doing...

[johanw]

End to end encryption with the Axolotl protocol.