We live in Flowdock at Stockflare both as a team and with our advisors / investors. (It’s like Slack, just better … and cheaper).
Banter, gifs, trivia get mixed up with the core work, notifications, user-engagement, etc. Very much like your usage of WhatsApp, John Henderson.
I suspect the opening of the WhatsApp API will lead to a massive change in the way we all do things. For example:
- Why bother with Slack / Flowdock, when they just become another thread in WhatsApp?
- Have an email chain with neighbours in your building? Replace with thread & add / remove contractors when needed.
- School ask you to download the tedious “Schools Gateway” app? Junk it and get on a “broadcast only” threat at WhatsApp where the headmaster and office manager can send alerts to parents.
- Organising a night out with friends, forget Doddle, just connect calendar into WhatsApp and let it suggest the best day/time. Connect to OpenTable and it’s offer a reservation. Forget the need for all the curated /discovery apps.
Benedict Evans has spoken of the platform wars and messaging as a platform. I bet it won’t be long now…and WhatsApp’s $20bn price is going to look a steal.
Though there’s one wrinkle…a bit more investment in the web-client. Sure it’s great that Jan and the boys don’t store our chat history on their servers, but there needs to be some flex here, if WhatsApp is to become THE platform. Perhaps, perhaps.
In the meantime, back to Flowdock.