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First, this is one of those rare instances of an Internet service I've never used.
Second, as other wags in the Twittersphere have pointed out today: Kodak goes out of business but 18-month-old Instagram, with no revenue and 6 employees, gets a billion bucks?
Third, I find the implementation of cell phone cameras just awful, and I hardly ever use my cell's camera. Now when a "record" function is added to my forthcoming Google heads-up-display reading glasses, you'll see me taking lots more pictures and videos.
Update: Okay, they've got more like 12 employees, according to NPR's Market Watch.
Here's Om Malik's take on the acquisition: Here is why Facebook bought Instagram. Basically, it was scared that Instagram, with its Android launch, would outflank FB in the much-needed mobile photo market, just at a time that FB's IPO filings indicated its vulnerability in that space.
"[Instagram] cracked the code where Facebook itself failed: viral growth on mobile," said Malik.
What Facebook should do next is breathe. They've brought in-house a company that was poised to eat its lunch. They can concentrate on the IPO and continue with their plans for using that influx of money.
Certainly availability on Android -- at last -- will drive Instagram's growth even faster than it's already been growing.
My first reaction is "ick" because Facebook isn't quite as elegant as Instagram. I'm happy for the folks who created Instagram, this is a big boost for them. I can't help but wonder if the expansion to Android played a part in this deal. They would have been working on the paperwork before the app's release, but I still wonder.
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