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What Can 16 Billion Get You?

In the news that send ripples across the tech scene and beyond, Facebook has acquired WhatsApp for an astonishing 16B. 16 billion. I lost count of the digits there already.

WhatsApp is the one that started it all for me. A couple of years back, the mobile sector was still very diverse. Blackberry was still very relevant, iPhone was just shaping up the world and Android was still raw. The gel holding users from these platforms together, apart from the good old SMS, is WhatsApp. It’s fast, reliable and lean. It doesn’t have ads and what you need to do is straight-forward. You don’t need instruction manual or tutorial for it. 

We used to have group chats with friends, and that was fun with everyone chipping in. Laughters were common and we often sent pictures of hilarious photos and videos. Those were the days. Subsequently, family members started to pick up WhatsApp as well and it as since remain the staple communication tool for us. Regardless of where we are, it keeps us in the loop of each other’s happenings.

Facebook is on an rampage. First Instagram and now WhatsApp. Taking now competitors as they go along by the sheer financial muscle they possess. Selling our personal information, getting our mobile numbers and shoving more ads in our faces.

It’s been a good run, the team behind WhatsApp.