本文摘要：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. Thats how many WhatsApp messages were exchanged between me and a friend in a single three-month perio

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. Thats 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.为什么Facebook要拿走190亿美元巨资并购WhatsApp？此时此刻我正在看一个文本文档，或许它可以说明其中的原因。这是2012年区区三个月的时间里我和一位朋友之间互发的5,600条信息，平均值约60条。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.那段时间有可能我一挺爱聊的吧，而且我的聊天对象是一个可爱、健谈的女士，因此我们相谈甚欢。不过，我们借此可以显现出，在科技行业抢走用户注意力的战争中，即时短讯服务俨然早已沦为焦点。

利用这项服务，人们可以言和道早安、问候，还可以一整小时一整小时推心置腹地谈天。这些短讯证明，我们的手机彻底来讲依然是交流工具，而且五花八门的应用于于是以让交流显得更为更容易。I was living in Dubai when those 5,600 messages were exchanged, and one of WhatsApps 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 books contacts in Europe, the Middle East or Australia are active on WhatsApp, while the ratio is much lower here in America.我和朋友聊得火热的那段日子我于是以住在迪拜，而且WhatsApp最明显的一个特征就是，它或许在美国以外的地区要更加热门――我电话簿里面产于在欧洲、中东和澳大利亚的联系人完全全都爱用WhatsApp，而美国本土的比例就较低得多。

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 Apples iMessage, it works on all the major mobile operating systems; unlike the text messaging services offered by mobile network operators, it doesnt charge you anything for sending the messages, and it works like modern mobile software, not the primitive SMS applications on most phones.核心问题在于，WhatsApp意味着是一款不俗的短讯应用于，你可以免费给各地的朋友发送到文字、图片及视频。与苹果(Apple)的iMessage所有所不同的是，这款应用于在所有主要移动操作系统上都可以运营；而且你放信息完全免费，不像移动网络运营商的短信服务还要花钱；再者，它是一款新型移动软件，不是多数手机上那种老旧的短信应用于。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 didnt 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. Thats another problem solved by WhatsApp.WhatsApp的上述优点也许可以部分说明为何它在美国本土不过于风行。

美国多数包月移动套餐都包括了无限量短信，向用户传送出有一种“随意放”的信号，而在很多国家都没这种服务，运营商对短信按条收费。而且，虽然3.1亿美国人分享着同一个电话网络，但在世界上其他国家，打国际长途、放越洋短信有可能便宜得令人头痛，这个问题在WhatsApp那里也获得了极致解决问题。

But ultimately, the appeal of mobile messaging software is the same as the appeal of everything else on a mobile: its with you all the time, its always connected, and it has an immediacy that cant be matched. When friends are on WhatsApp, or iMessage, or BlackBerry Messenger, its like youve opened up an endless two-way chat room.不过，归根结底，移动短讯软件的诱惑力只不过就是“移动设备”本身的吸引力：它总是预示在你左右，它和外界的联系总有一天会折断，它享有无与伦比的互动性。无论朋友们用的是WhatsApp、iMessage还是黑莓(BlackBerry)的Messenger，只要他们在线，就样子为你打开了一间畅所欲言的聊天室一样。And once its open, the marginal cost of sending one more message, or sharing one more picture, is so close to zero that before you know it, youve sent a few thousand of them, in a few months, to a beautiful women a couple of thousand miles away.只要关上该应用于，就可以无限量发送信息及图片、而且成本完全为零。

比如我，短短几个月的时间里就跟数千公里之外的美女朋友互发了数千条信息，当时我都没有意识到放了这么多。The centrality of instant messaging to our mobile lives can be seen in how the giants of the industry have approached it. Apples iOS and Googles 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 its BlackBerry Messenger service -- another mobile messaging product wildly popular abroad -- as one of its trophy assets.即时通讯之于移动生活的重要性，从科技巨头们趋之若鹜的态度就可窥知一二。

苹果的iOS、谷歌(Google)的安卓(Android)操作系统都创建起了短讯应用于，来避免手机短信服务和基于互联网的即时讯息之间的差异，将用户更有到他们自己的短讯平台上来。黑莓也仍然在大力宣传它的“得意之作”BlackBerry Messenger服务，这种产品在美国以外的地区也很热门。

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也给旗下的Instagram照片共享服务加到了即时通讯功能，但并购短讯应用于Snapchat的尝试没能顺利。现在，该公司又豪抛掷亿金并购WhatsApp，其耗资之虎堪比Gap、黑石集团(Blackstone)、哈雷戴维森公司(Harley Davidson)等美国企业巨头的市值。

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 Ill bet a large majority of the companys 450 million active users will do the same.这样的大手笔有一点吗？我也不告诉，但我确切一件事：在我用了好几年、发送到出有数万条信息之后，WhatsApp上周告诉他我，免费试用将要届满，我必须缴付1美元才能取得一年的服务。我毫不犹豫地缴纳了1美元，而且我不敢开玩笑，WhatsApp那4.5亿名活跃用户认同大多数都和我的点子一样。

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