Those are basically the same thoughts that I had. Security is not enough of a concern for most of the market. I wouldn't built it as a commercial product, but basically as art for those of us who value privacy.
That said, I think the number of people concerned with message privacy is on the rise around the world. Over a few years, the market may grow significantly as privacy receives more attention.
Alternately, you could just create a third party client for WhatsApp that uses an actual password. The issue with WhatsApp is on the client end, which you can control.
Re:WhatsApp is broken, really broken
by mike_esspe on Saturday September 15, 2012 @01:25AM
(#4525412)
Probably they will start to care, if whatsapp spoofer would become widely available.
Your app would have a nice geeky audience of tech nerds who would drool over how secure it is and how smart they are.
WhatsApp on the other hand "just works." It requires zero setup, zero technical understanding, and is available on almost every platform (at least the "biggies" anyway).
I would say its audience is teenagers, and the less tech savvy consumer in general. I cannot see them wanting to switch to something else unless you make come up with a USP which appeals to them (i.e. security is not a USP that they're interested in).