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Re:Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus ... by superuser2 on Thursday February 20, 2014 @01:03AM (#7269155)
Not everyone has a smartphone. Many of the people I need to text (especially my parents) have feature phones with no data plans.

Having to remember which messaging system you should use for each person is annoying, so most people just use one.

Re:Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus ... by auctiontheory on Thursday February 20, 2014 @01:52AM (#7269316)
I have a hard time believing that the density of WhatsApp-capable phones is higher across the developing world (where WhatsApp is popular) than in the US.
Re:Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus ... by skrebbel on Thursday February 20, 2014 @03:20AM (#7269619)
Probably not, but it's close to equally high, which is one of Whatsapp's strong points.

Additionally, it's not just popular in "the developing world" (whatever that means), but also in many European countries. I haven't seen a map, but I suspect that Whatsapp is very popular nearly everywhere outside the US and China.