All the chatter and pontification in the world does not change some hard facts. Snapchat and other big, growing mobile messaging platforms such as, but not limited to, Line, WeChat, Whatsapp, Kik, and others are all in the middle of a high-stakes, lucrative mobile land grab. Regardless of “how” these new networks grew to such large scale, the fact remains mobile growth only continues to march on, unbundling and fracturing the concentrated graph Facebook has collected on the web. It’s not hard to imagine a future where mobile messaging apps become the predominant platform for new mobile products and services, distribution and commerce. In the eye of the storm, it’s nearly impossible to model what these apps are worth on paper — that can only be determined by the market, and in the case of Snapchat, if the reports are true, it is worth somewhere between $3-4Bn.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/17/the-king-of-ephemerality-snapchat-sends-a-permanent-message-to-facebook/
