Instagram’s rumored “Bolt” app to take on Snapchat?
Instagram has proven that some of us just want a social network for sharing photos, and especially if it’s a place where we won’t get bothered by Candy Crush invites. Facebook saw this success early on, and did a smart move in acquiring the company and letting it be. Together with Facebook, we’ve seen how Instagram has managed to control the popularity of competing services like Vine (owned by Twitter) with its video offerings, and reports have it that the company is out for more.
Rumors claim that a few Instagram users received an invitation to download a free application called “Bolt” for a test drive. This app is described as a “one-tap photo messenger,” which is pretty much what we see today with Snapchat, and even Facebook’s own Slingshot service that was recently launched. These notifications could prove that we are close to a launch of the service publicly, but it’s hard to avoid wondering if this is Facebook’s second attempt to compete against Snapchat in the case that Slingshot might have failed.
Whatever the case may be, keep a look out for this service. Instagram found significant success with its video offerings mainly because they didn’t force you to use a separate app, so we wonder how well Bolt will do. Do you use these “one-tap photo messenger” apps? Leave us a comment and tell us which one.
