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Tag: Instagram Acquisition

  • Instagram Rumored to be Coming to Windows Phone

    Even after predictions of doom after its acquisition by Facebook, Instagram is still going strong as one of the most popular photo-sharing apps around. Android and iPhone users are still using the app, even after the outcry from members who were afraid their cool app would be subsumed into the over-broad tedium of Facebook. True to their word, though, Facebook has continued to support Instagram, though the service has continued to gain in popularity.

    The only smartphone users without access to the app at this point are Windows Phone users. Today, though, The Verge is reporting that Windows Phone users will soon be getting the Instagram app. The story cites unnamed “sources familiar with Microsoft’s Windows Phone plans” as saying the app will arrive on Windows Phone before the end of 2012.

    The Verge also claims there is proof of the app’s imminent arrival in the Nokia PureMotion ad below. The claim is that the tile showing comments and hearts is the Instagram app, though an update admits it could also be a representation of the Vimeo app. The supposed reveal occurs at around the 50-second mark.

    Whether or not the ad does show the Instagram app running as a tile is slightly irrelevant, however, as with a Nokia Pure(Whatever) ad you can never be sure it’s actually real. Nokia last week was caught faking an ad for the Lumia 920’s PureView image stabilization technology.

    Instagram’s recent acquisition by Facebook would actually seem to make these rumors more likely. Facebook has deep ties to Microsoft, which was a heavy Facebook investor.

  • Facebook “Acquires” Another Photo-sharing Service – Lightbox

    Users who jump onto the Lightbox website this afternoon will be surprised with a short message declaring that the Lightbox team is joining Facebook. Over on the Lightbox blog, Thai Tran and Nilesh Patel, the co-founders of Lightbox, posted a thank-you and farewell to their loyal user community. From the blog post:

    We started Lightbox because we were excited about creating new services built primarily for mobile, especially for the Android and HTML5 platforms, and we’re honored that millions of you have downloaded the Lightbox Photos app and shared your experiences with the Lightbox community.

    Today, we’re happy to announce that the Lightbox team is joining Facebook, where we’ll have the opportunity to build amazing products for Facebook’s 500+ million mobile users.

    The blog post does not make it clear, but according to AllThingsD, all seven of Lightbox’s employees have been hired by Facebook. Considering this news and Facebook’s recent purchase of Instagram, it is obvious that Facebook is planning to aggressively expand both its mobile and photo-sharing capabilities in the near future. The timing of the hirings also comes just before Facebook’s imminent IPO, meaning that the company might be trying to bolster investor confidence in its mobile division.

    What does this mean for Lightbox? Well, obviously, it means the company has no employees. As for specifics, Tran and Patel stated in their blog post that, as of today, the company will no loger be accepting new signups. Existing users may continue to use Lightbox until June 15. The company has, thankfully, provided users with a convenient way to download all of their photos.

    If there is a silver lining to be seen in this story for Lightbox users, it might be that Facebook has not purchased Lightbox itself, but simply hired the employees. What that means is Tran and Patel have promised to open source portions of the Lightbox code and post them in a Github repository. In other words, it won’t be long before a Lightbox clone is up and running.

    If you have never used LIghtbox, you can take a look at the video below and get an idea of how it works. If you are a Lightbox user, feel free to watch and begin your nostalgic reminiscing early.

    (Lightbox blog via AllThingsD)

  • Instagram Surpasses 50 Million Users

    Instagram Surpasses 50 Million Users

    Looks like the debacle over people wanting to get rid of Instagram after the Facebook acquisition turned out to be just talk. Either that, or Insagram doesn’t really need the people that quit, because they now have over 50 million users. And they are adding new ones at a rate of about 5 million per week. Two weeks ago they were at 40 million, and around the time of Facebook’s announcement to buy them out, they were at 30 million.

    That’s huge. Especially for an app that started the year with just 15 million users. It’s starting to look like everything Facebook touches turns to gold. Although Facebook may not have overcome every obstacle in their acquisition of Instagram, their presence has definitely been felt.

    But you also have to take into account their recent release on Android, after being iPhone exclusive for two years. You have to think the availability to millions of new users is bringing in a good chunk of those new sign-ups. In fact 10 million people have signed up via Google Play since it was released early in the month. That makes up about half of their total downloads this month.

    According to Gramfeed the 50 millionth user is fox289. He still only has 4 followers, so his popularity as the 50 millionath subscriber has yet to catch on. Probably because Instagram is still climbing. 20 million additions in a month is nothing to shy away from, but we have yet to see what Facebook plans to do with the app.

    Further integration into Facebook may mean a pool of their 850 million users to pull from. We could easily see Instagram doubling these numbers to over 100 million in the next few months. They certainly don’t seem to be slowing down.

    [Source: Mashable]

  • Jack Dorsey Passed Up On Instagram!

    Twitter co-founder and executive chairman, Jack Dorsey should probably be upset by the resent acquisition of Instagram by his number one rival Facebook. After all, Twitter has always been an easier way to share photos with friends and family via mobile technology. Not only would Instagram have improved on an already great service at Twitter, it would have brought the company another 30 million users. That would have been nice.

    So why didn’t Twitter buy-up Instagram? I guess they did, sort of. While they may not have had the capital to shell-out for the acquisition, Dorsey personally invested heavily in Instagram. He was one of the few stockholder who made a fortune off the billion dollar acquisition. Sounds like an okay deal to me.

    Unfortunately this does make Facebook more attractive for social networkers who really love sharing photos. Either way, I don’t think Twitter is going anywhere. There’s definitely room for both of these giants in the social networking world. Jack seems to be busy enough doing product development and getting the ball rolling at his newest venture, Square.

    According to Business Insider, Dorsey lives between the two Job sites, and splits eighty hours a week between them. Though he seems to be successful as hell, don’t all those hours wear on you eventually? We’ll have to wait and see, but I think he must be due for a vacation.