Facebook Acquires Feature Phone App Maker Snaptu 62
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."
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next time read the FAQ you douchebag skin-flute player
why? what does it say?
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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.
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Obvious troll is obvious.
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Re:WTF . . . (Score:4, Informative)
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).
Re:WTF . . . (Score:5, Informative)
WTF . . .is a feature phone
I didn't know either. Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] 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
Less than smartphone (Score:4, Informative)
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Prepaid smartphones in the United States market (Score:2)
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; in
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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
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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= [google.com]
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
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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.
Facebook phone (Score:2)
Remember all the rumors of a "Facebook phone"? Whatever happened to that?
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Much to the delight of all three people who use that OS.
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Remember all the rumors of a "Facebook phone"? Whatever happened to that?
The Facebook phones are HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha
The what? (Score:2)
Never heard of it. Seems the hype was louder than the product announcements.
Re:Silly (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Not brands, models. Hell, Nokia alone probably has half that many models. (well, maybe a bit of a stretch... but...)
Data fees (Score:1)
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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!)
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Slashbook or Facedot? (Score:1)
subject says it all.
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works on more than 2,500 devices. (Score:2)
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
Re:works on more than 2,500 devices. (Score:4, Informative)
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Funnily enough, I think your definition of feature phone is a bit wrong, to say the least. I have a Nokia 3500 Classic, which is old and it is a feature phone - but I can (could) install any app for System 40 that I wanted to. I could even download them to my PC and then use a USB cable to transfer that app to my oldish featurephone.
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Its' a rough definition to be sure, but it is certainly accurate to say that when the term "feature phone" was coined phones were defined as such because of the features that they came with.
You don't seriously think the 3500 is old do you? My first feature phone was a WAP-enabled Siemens cira 1997 - ten years older then then your 3500. USB cables was unheard of. Third party apps just plain didn't exist.
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Yes, I am dead serious when I say the 3500 classic is old - I cannot buy any official accessories for it, I couldn't buy it (the phone itself) a few years at least, it's 4 years since it was released, I cannot buy even an un-official (non-Nokia) replacement case...
It's still going strong, though, and with a 2 GB MicroSD card, it really does all I need. I think my next phone (whenever this gives up its ghost) will be another 3500 classic.
Snaptu (Score:1)
Isn't $70M a financial detail? (Score:1)
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?
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Not sure this is news. (Score:2)
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.