Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take a photo and then share it on its own social network, and a variety of others. Facebook recently acquired Instagram for a whopping sum of one billion dollars.
It was the evening of yesterday when I came across the news on CNN Money: Facebook dropped $1,000,000,000 to acquire Instagram, a photo sharing service built by a team of 13. Instagram was started 2 years ago and has grown to have about 30 million users. It started on iOS App Store, and when it launched on Android few days ago, it got 6 million downloads in just 6 days. That was a pretty good start at 1 million downloads a day. With statistics full of such promise, it must have been one of the things that made the eyes of CEO/Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, glitter.
Facebook has over 10 billion photos on its network, far beyond the dreams of some other online photo sharing platforms. Amazingly, a report on Business Insider indicates that Mark has only 3 public photos on his Instagram account. But Mark already knows that; Facebook has been struggling hard to gain grounds in the area of mobile photo sharing. What better way to register its presence in the mobile community than to buy over a company with no revenue, but with outstanding growth and popularity in mobile photo sharing, for a price double its value.
“This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all,” Zuckerberg said in public announcement.
So, if you think a photo is worth just one thousand words; now think one billion dollars.
About the AuthorAhmad Mukoshyis an entrepreneur, web designer and developer.
