back to article Instagram-owner Facebook emits in-house camera app

Facebook has launched a new Instagram-like mobile camera app via Apple's iTunes store. The social network, which inelegantly plonked itself on the Nasdaq a week ago, said in April that it planned to buy photo-sharing startup Instagram in a $1bn cash-and-stock deal. Observers considered the proposed buyout of that app to be a …

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  1. David Ward 1

    Isn't thiis already on android?

    I might be wrong but I think I have had this app on android for the last month, it got installed at the last facebook app update?

    1. Lamont Cranston

      Re: Isn't thiis already on android?

      My Nokia (E63, so symbian S60, or something) had its Facebook app updated a while back, and a camera option appeared. Don't think it has a sepia option, though, which just goes to show how uncool my phone and I are.

      1. GoingGoingGone

        Re: Isn't thiis already on android?

        My pre-E63 S60 Nokia N96 has had a sepia option since the dawn of time, but you actually have to scroll down to 'color tone' in the camera app icon bar and then scroll down again to 'sepia' in the color palette. All incredible unhipstery, unintuitive and yes, unmitigatedly uncool. Such are the times.

        I don't have a Facebook account, let alone a mobile Facebook app so unfortunately cannot comment on its joys and sorrows.

    2. Test Man
      Stop

      Re: Isn't thiis already on android?

      David Ward - no. This was NOT Facebook Camera. The icon you saw (which was subsequently removed) was simply a shortcut to the already-existing camera function within the main Facebook app, the function that has always been there. The icon simply made it quicker to launch the camera function of Facebook instead of launching Facebook and selecting the camera option manually.

  2. Tom 38

    You may both use the term 'zucked', but you meant 'sucked', whilst they meant 'fu…'.

  3. JDX Gold badge

    Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

    Why most of it?

    1. Armando 123

      Re: Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

      Because the tax rate will be > 50% for federal, state, and local taxes, plus he'll have to hire an army of accountants and they don't work for free.

      1. James Micallef Silver badge
        WTF?

        Re: Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

        >50%?? Huh ??

        I can't claim to be an expert in US tax law (who can, really?), but as far as I know, capital gains tax in the US is 15%, and I'm sure his well-paid army of accountants and lawyers will see to it that he's not paying more than that. State and local taxes are mostly sales taxes.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

          I thought California (as do a number of states, and cities on the east coast) had an income tax.

          Could be wrong...

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

          This is not considered capital gains. He got the stock as renumeration for being an employee of the company. it is straight income. California has a state income tax. In addition to any regional or city taxes. But according to this article. Facebook is paying the employees taxes.

          http://it-jobs.fins.com/Articles/SBB0001424052970204792404577224973559759002/Facebook-to-Pay-Employees-5-Billion-Tax-Bill

      2. JDX Gold badge

        Re: Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

        The whole point of hiring accountants is to reduce the tax you pay comapred to filling in the form as an amateur.

        Is overall tax really >50% in the US? I thought the US had low taxes.

        1. Brendan Sullivan

          Re: Zuck will spend most of that money, however, on a gigantic tax bill.

          The US officially has a tax rate of between 30-40% on income, capital gains and many other non-payroll sources on money are taxed at different rates, usually 15% or less. And don't forget that the 30-40% (or even the 50% that was quoted elsewhere) is only the official base rate, the effective rate varies wildly with those earning five figures annually paying up to 35% or so while those earning high six or seven figures paying some 15% or less in many cases. This only considers Federal tax rates so State income taxes may add to that but in at least some states your Federal tax bill can be taken as a deduction from your state tax bill.

          I pay an effective negative rate but this is due to the fact that I am earning almost nothing and most of that goes to deductible expenditures like tools and occupational training.

  4. Anomynous Coward

    copper-haired

    And therefore . . .

  5. Thomas 18
    Thumb Up

    web 2.0 adman

    heh heh heh

  6. James Micallef Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Instagram purchase???

    So Zuck spend $1bn to buy Instagram when his own engineers were building an app just liek Instagram, but with even better Integration into facebook?? He spent $1bn basically on the Instagram name???

    No wonder their shares tanked at the IPO!!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    LOLtwats

    So now FacePuke has two instagrams it can output twice the amount of 70s polaroid-filtered pictures of cats. Wow! one in the eye for the cynics who said FB had no product.

    Now where can I buy me some shares?

  8. Electric Panda
    Big Brother

    Suspicious timing

    The conspiracy theorist in me wouldn't be remotely surprised if this was the plan all along. Facebook didn't buy Instagram because they wanted the technology, they bought them out because they had knocked off the technology and wanted to wriggle out of legal hassles by eliminating the competition.

    Eliminate the competition and take ownership of the technology, copyright, patents etc. while flexing your muscles and asserting your dominance and control in the process. That's business for you, especially when you're artificially inflating the value of your company prior to an IPO.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Zucked dry, but

    it's important to tell how some of those WS banks sold short and turned all to jerky.

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