Facebook buys WhatsApp

Social network giant Facebook grows by acquiring Whats App, a messaging service for smartphones with 450 million users. The purchase price is set to $19 billion. Approximately $4 billion paid in cash, the rest is to be paid in Facebook shares.

WhatsApps founder Jan Koum will thus become a major shareholder in Facebook. He will also take place in the social network's board of directors.

Facebook have likely made the acquisition because they lack an operating system of its own, such as Google's Android or Apple's iOS. With its own operating system, Facebook can now pre-install apps, and programs and by doing so bring up the use of its own products.

Facebooks previous attempts to market it 's own user OS Home, which could be installed to Android, fell flat and become a flop. Facebook is now seemingly trying to redeem this venture.

After the announcement Facebook 's stock fell 4.4 percent, signaling that the market apparently doesn't share Zuckerberg's interest in WhatsApp. 

Social Trends 2013

Social media networks were a novelty 5 years ago and today they are no longer debated around the dinner party table. Its old news, the conversation has moved on. Social media is not new, its the norm.

And with that norm comes expectations, development, and new trends. The Global Web Index recently compiled a study concerning the Social Stream of Q1 2013. Here are two key factors driving the social web in 2013:

• Mobile – with the number of people accessing the internet via a mobile phone increasing by 60.3% to 818.4 million in the last 2 years. 
• Older users adoption – On Twitter the 55-64 year age bracket is the fastest growing demographic with 79% growth rate since 2012. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook’s and Google+’s networks are the 45 to 54 year age bracket at 46% and 56% respectively.

It is clear that both the social platforms and the marketers that use them to engage consumers will need to adopt a mobile first strategy in future.

This brings with it significant opportunities for brands to leverage social, mobile, in-store, TV, outdoor, and print using creative, integrated campaigns and engagement strategies.

Facebook vs Samsung

You don’t stay in business since the late 1930s by being reckless and backing a losing prospect. This is certainly the case with Samsung who has been around for decades and has no designs on failing now. A couple of years ago if Facebook had come to the company offering to collaborate on an FB centric mobile handset perhaps Samsung would have given it serious thought. However, when Mark Zuckerberg suggested such a project to Samsung big wigs at a recent meeting he was met with a resounding and deafening NO.

Oh, and how wise Samsung is to say no so clearly because it is very evident that cell phone consumers do not want an FB cell. I mean, the HTC One, which was Facebook’s first attempt at making their own cell phone was a massive, unmistakable failure. This was just a few months ago and Zuckerberg is looking to try again so soon? The batteries are barely cold on those HTC failures and they are approaching a tech giant like Samsung to try again.

The honest truth, and Zuckerberg needs to realize this, is that it wasn’t that the first phones were bad. In fact, many reviewers were impressed with the HTC Ones as phones. The problem was that they were just too Facebook focused and no one really wants that much FB. If your life revolves around Facebook so much that you would want it displayed so prominently on your cell phone you probably never leave the house so why do you need a mobile device? The answer is you don’t, and that is why a Facebook centric phone will not work. Bullet dodged, Samsung.

iPhone Controller

The iPhone is already one of the largest gaming platforms on the market — the App Store makes it easy for developers to get their titles to customers and iPhone owners spend a significant amount of time on the device gaming.

iOS 7 includes support for MFi "Made for iPhone" Apple Certified hardware game controllers, which will allow manufacturers to create dedicated iOS gaming controllers, turning the iPhone and the iPad into gaming machines on par with handheld gaming systems. Apps will be able to be designed around the game controller framework, allowing for seamless connectivity.

So here we have what appears to be a style of game controller that allows you to see the screen of your phone, as well as an entirely standalone controller with what seems to be dual analog sticks. Also, rumors say that Apple has reinforced that if your game is going to support a game controller it needs to be totally playable without.

"Made for iPhone" is going to be the familiar branding for these controllers, and developers will have one common interface to code. Allegedly, there's even some prototype controllers floating around WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2013).

Will we be playing a proper Zelda: A Link to the Past on the iPhone this fall? I sure hope so!

note: if you happen to have an Apple Developer ID you can read all about the controller here

Appolution

When the iPhone was launched in June of 2007 it was an immediate improvement over previous smartphones and palm pilots. Many a Treos and Nokia 7110s cried out in terror as they were retired that day. While the original iPhone was a noticeable improvement over previous mobile devices, it was still very limited. After all, it had only half a screen of applications and lacked basic tools like a task manager.

Fast forward to 2013 and the iPhone has become a much more integrated device for managing productivity. More recently, a new breed of iPhone apps have begun to hit the App Store that have more intuitive and sleek interfaces. Here are my top pick that may have slipped under your radars.

Evernote

Evernote is my go-to app for organizing the big-data of life. I keep everything in it; meeting notes, audio notes, quotes, blog ideas and drafts, important documentation, articles that I've saved and a great deal more. Evernote is the last notebook you'll ever need. The true power of Evernote resides in its unique search capabilities that allow users to filter notes and documents quickly to access the information they need.

Dropbox

On the surface, Dropbox is another app that allows users to sync, store, share and access files across all their devices. Because Dropbox supports Apple, Microsoft and Android platforms, it is by far the best app for collaborating, storing files and backing devices up.

1Password

Unfortunately, humans are generally not very good at creating or remembering strong passwords that don't include our pet's names or the last 4-digits of our social security numbers. 1Password encrypts and stores all that info, so that user need only remember 1 password. It has a built in Internet browser that will automatically log users in to websites and auto fill account information as they browse on their iOS device.

Interval Run

Finally I thought I’d end this list with a tip for all you runners out there. Want a virtual coach in your ear buds? Then try out this app that tells users when to start running and when to (finally) take a breather. I searched high and low to find an app that would let me customize my intervals any which way I wanted. Noticing that most apps only would let you program one set at a time (5*20 sec) I felt like the hunt was lost. Then I found Interval Run which solves all my interval problems. In addition to Tabata workouts, the app let’s users customize longer running workouts, from 5K plans to hour-long runs. Cost: $1.99 – worth every penny!