Is Snapchat Lying To Its 5 Million+ Users?
Snapchat: The fastest way to share a moment on iPhone – up to 10x faster than MMS.
That’s what the app promises to its ever-growing five-million+ user base. Why one needs to send a picture with that much urgency is a question founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are not keen to entertain. The company, since its launch in September 2011, has been shrouded in controversy. First there’s the pending lawsuit from a former Stanford classmate who claims the idea was stolen. Then there’s the company’s inflated value: $860 million (in less than two years) that has not yet produced a dime of revenue.
So what is Snapchat? According to its founders, it’s a moment sharing application. As though we haven’t found enough ways to suffocate the life out of a moment. “Snap an ugly selfie or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend (or maybe a few). They’ll receive it, laugh, and then the snap disappears.” That’s the gimmick offered via their website. Spiegel recently told The New York Times,“We don’t ever say that we’re a secure way to send ugly photos…”. And thus, the motherboard of controversies has arisen.
In May, Forbes first reported that those disappearing images might not, in fact, be completely kaput. Apple recently launched iOS 7 Beta 2 for its developers with a number of significant changes to its operating system (set to be released to the public in the fall). In iOS 7′s release notes, Apple states: “Active touches are no longer canceled when the user takes a screenshot.” What does this mean? The very foundation of Snapchat’s existence is now void.
