WhatsApp好在哪 看狂熱粉絲如何解答

Why is Facebook buying WhatsApp for $19 billion? At this very moment, I am looking at a text file showing me 5,600 possible explanations. That's how many WhatsApp messages were exchanged between me and a friend in a single three-month period of 2012, when we were averaging about 60 back-and-forth messages a day.

為什麼Facebook要拿出190億美元巨資收購WhatsApp？此時此刻我正在看一個文字文件，也許它可以解釋其中的原因。這是2012年區區三個月的時間裡我和一位朋友之間互發的5,600條資訊，平均大約60條。

It was probably a time of above-average communication -- and the messages were with a woman of above-average beauty and conversational smarts, so I had my reasons -- but it is still a useful window into how instant messaging sits right at the heart of the battle for attention that now dominates the technology industry. Skimming over those messages -- from the breezy rituals of good mornings and how are yous to hour-long heart-to-hearts -- shows how our phones are still fundamentally communicators, and how chatting, like everything else, is now facilitated by apps.

那段時間可能我挺愛聊的吧，而且我的聊天物件是一個漂亮、健談的女士，因此我們相談甚歡。不過，我們從中可以看出，在科技行業搶奪使用者注意力的戰爭中，即時短訊服務儼然已經成為焦點。藉助這項服務，人們可以互道早安、問好，還可以整小時整小時推心置腹地談天。這些短訊證明，我們的手機從根本上來講仍然是交流工具，而且五花八門的應用正讓交流變得更加容易。

I was living in Dubai when those 5,600 messages were exchanged, and one of WhatsApp's most notable traits is that it seems to be significantly more popular outside the U.S. than it is within - almost all of my phone book's contacts in Europe, the Middle East or Australia are active on WhatsApp, while the ratio is much lower here in America.

我和朋友聊得火熱的那段日子我正住在迪拜，而且WhatsApp最顯著的一個特徵就是，它似乎在美國以外的地區要更受歡迎――我電話簿裡面分佈在歐洲、中東和澳大利亞的聯絡人幾乎全都愛用WhatsApp，而美國本土的比例就低得多。

At its core, WhatsApp is just a nicely-done messaging app that lets you send text, pictures and video to your friends anywhere, free. Unlike Apple's iMessage, it works on all the major mobile operating systems; unlike the text messaging services offered by mobile network operators, it doesn't charge you anything for sending the messages, and it works like modern mobile software, not the primitive SMS applications on most phones.

核心問題在於，WhatsApp僅僅是一款不錯的短訊應用，你可以免費給各地的朋友傳送文字、圖片及視訊。與蘋果(Apple)的iMessage所不同的是，這款應用在所有主要移動作業系統上都可以執行；而且你發信息完全免費，不像行動網路運營商的簡訊服務還要收錢；再者，它是一款新型移動軟體，不是多數手機上那種老舊的簡訊應用。

The problems WhatsApp solves could, in part, also explain why it is less of a big deal at home in the U.S. Most monthly mobile plans here include unlimited text messaging, creating an all-you-can-eat mentality around sending SMS that didn't exist overseas, where operators often charged per message. And while 310 million Americans share a single nation -- and telephone network -- in the rest of the world national boundaries between people are more likely to introduce the expensive headache of international calling and text messaging. That's another problem solved by WhatsApp.

WhatsApp的上述優點或許可以部分解釋為何它在美國本土不太流行。美國多數包月移動套餐都包含了無限量簡訊，向用戶傳遞出一種“隨便發”的訊號，而在很多國家都沒有這種服務，運營商對簡訊按條收費。而且，雖然3.1億美國人共享著同一個電話網路，但在世界上其他國家，打國際長途、發越洋簡訊可能昂貴得令人頭痛，這個問題在WhatsApp那裡也得到了完美解決。

But ultimately, the appeal of mobile messaging software is the same as the appeal of everything else on a mobile: it's with you all the time, it's always connected, and it has an immediacy that can't be matched. When friends are on WhatsApp, or iMessage, or BlackBerry Messenger, it's like you've opened up an endless two-way chat room.

不過，歸根結底，移動短訊軟體的誘惑力其實就是“移動裝置”本身的吸引力：它總是伴隨在你左右，它和外界的聯絡永遠不會斷，它擁有無與倫比的即時性。無論朋友們用的是WhatsApp、iMessage還是黑莓(BlackBerry)的Messenger，只要他們線上，就好像為你開啟了一間暢所欲言的聊天室一樣。

And once it's open, the marginal cost of sending one more message, or sharing one more picture, is so close to zero that before you know it, you've sent a few thousand of them, in a few months, to a beautiful women a couple of thousand miles away.

只要開啟該應用，就可以無限量傳送資訊及圖片、而且成本幾乎為零。比如我，短短几個月的時間裡就跟數千公里之外的美女朋友互發了數千條資訊，當時我都沒意識到發了這麼多。

The centrality of instant messaging to our mobile lives can be seen in how the giants of the industry have approached it. Apple's iOS and Google's Android have both built messaging applications that erase the distinctions between SMS messages sent over the mobile network and web-based instant messages, pushing users into their own messaging platforms in the process. BlackBerry has long highlighted it's BlackBerry Messenger service -- another mobile messaging product wildly popular abroad -- as one of its trophy assets.

即時通訊之於移動生活的重要性，從科技巨頭們趨之若鶩的態度就可窺知一二。蘋果的iOS、谷歌(Google)的安卓(Android)作業系統都建立起了短訊應用，來消除手機簡訊服務和基於網際網路的即時訊息之間的差異，將使用者吸引到他們自己的短訊平臺上來。黑莓也一直在大力宣傳它的“得意之作”BlackBerry Messenger服務，這種產品在美國以外的地區也很受歡迎。

Facebook added instant messaging to its Instagram photo sharing service, tried without success to buy messaging service Snapchat, and has now spent as much money buying WhatsApp as the market value of American corporate giants like Gap, Blackstone or Harley Davidson.

Facebook也給旗下的Instagram照片分享服務添加了即時通訊功能，但收購短訊應用Snapchat的嘗試未能成功。現在，該公司又豪擲億金收購WhatsApp，其斥資之巨堪比Gap、黑石集團(Blackstone)、哈雷戴維森公司(Harley Davidson)等美國企業巨頭的市值。

Is the valuation worth it? I have no idea, but I do know this: last week, after a years of constant usage and tens of thousands of messages, WhatsApp told me my free trial period was coming to an end, and I needed to cough up a dollar for another year of service. I paid it without second thought, and I'll bet a large majority of the company's 450 million active users will do the same.

這樣的大手筆值得嗎？我也不知道，但我清楚一件事：在我用了好幾年、傳送出數萬條資訊之後，WhatsApp上週告訴我，免費試用即將到期，我需要繳費1美元才能獲得一年的服務。我毫不猶豫地支付了1美元，而且我敢打賭，WhatsApp那4.5億名活躍使用者肯定大多數都和我的想法一樣。