The thing I find interesting and somehow ridiculous about Instagram is the fact that for such a hugely successful app, (they were named Apple’s app of the year 2011), they still have not taken the time to tell people what the app is all about. Maybe it’s because it’s an exclusively iPhone app but the reality of it is that not everyone has an iPhone and what’s worse, their website simply has no information about what the app is all about.
But this may actually be marketing genius rather than moronic tendencies because the enigma behind an app that is being used by close to 15 million iPhone users and one that has been endorsed by the sacrosanct Apple could be an excellent incentive for many people who want to be in the IN crowd and use all the latest apps and so on.
So Instagram is on course to overtake Foursquare as the most widely used mobile app and they only have an iPhone app while Foursquare have the full gamut of tools: iPhone app, Android app, web app, etc.
Most pundits say that this number of users for Instagram could double when they launch their Android app, which they say they are working on but this may not be quite the walk in the park that they have had in the iOS app store because unlike in having a big fan in Apple, Google do not play favourites and they tend to throw everyone in one basket, sink or swim.
So while Instagram bask in their radiant success with their iPhone app, the Android market continues to become more and more complicated with the entry of players like Amazon, who now have their own gated version of the Android market and which is attracting quite a large number of developers away from both the Android market as well as from other platforms, including iOS.
It may be that launching their Android application may be a slam dunk but they may also end up ruing their opportunities if something as good or better is launched on Android before they make their move.
