But even with the new program, Facebook still faces some tough competition. In fact, many of the top operators have been in the market for several years and have built-up massive user bases.
One example: Tango.
Launched in late 2010, the app was the first cross-platform system that allowed for video calls and messaging. In fact, it snagged 1 million downloads within the first ten days … and the growth has not let up. As of now, there are over 110 million downloads across the iOS, Android and even Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone.
That’s not all, though; Tango is not just about sending messages. You can even play games on the platform and make free VOIP calls if you want. Plus, perhaps the biggest differentiator for Tango is rich video capabilities, which work even in wi-fi environments. To pull this off, the company has assembled a top-notch engineering team of over 100 people.
Yesterday, I interviewed the company’s co-founder and CTO, Eric Setton. He started his career as a research scientist at Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) Labs and, before starting Tango, built another video streaming compan, wrote the first book on peer-to-peer video back in 2007 and holds six patents in the category.
In my interview with Eric, he had some interesting insights about the Facebook Home effort. Take a look:
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook. He is also the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities, and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
