computer science

Snaptu

Snaptu is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Snaptu rather than just read about it. In short: Snaptu pronounced "snap tu", previously known as Moblica was a free Israeli-made mobile application platform that ran on virtually every type of Internet-enabled mobile phone. It allowed the user to access popular services, varying from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, ESPN CricInfo and Picasa to entertainment news, blogs, sports and local guides.

Snaptu — illustration

Key takeaways

Snaptu belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Snaptu to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Snaptu from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Snaptu pronounced "snap tu", previously known as Moblica was a free Israeli-made mobile application platform that ran on virtually every type of Internet-enabled mobile phone. It allowed the user to access popular services, varying from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, ESPN CricInfo and Picasa to entertainment news, blogs, sports and local guides.

Overview The app was created by an Israeli startup called Moblica and was originally known as Moblica. Snaptu's focus was its ability to connect users with even a rudimentary phone to the mobile web. The product's cross-platform capabilities stem from its methodology, in which the applications do not run on the mobile phone itself, but on Internet servers. Snaptu was a collection of apps including Twitter, LinkedIn, Picasa, Flickr and others, available from its own app store. Snaptu bundled more than 30 free applications and more than 25 web links as of September 23, 2010. In January 2011, the Snaptu application had over 78 million users worldwide.

Acquisition by Facebook Facebook and Snaptu had been working on a Facebook application and had released it on 19 January 2011. According to the company blog it works on 80% of mobile phones available in the market. A press release in March 2011 at the company blog confirmed that the company has agreed to be acquired by Facebook. Company stated in its blog that the reason for being acquired by Facebook was that "it offered the best opportunity to keep accelerating the pace of our product development." It also stated that the acquisition will end in few weeks and in the transition period Snaptu will continue to operate normally. According to Israeli publication Globes, the deal is worth US$60–US$70 million.

At the end of October Snaptu announced to all its users that on the 11 November 2011 they would end most of their apps. This includes the discontinuation of their Twitter, Cricinfo and LinkedIn apps. Instead of continuing development on these applications, the focus would turn to their standalone Facebook app. At the end of December 2011, Snaptu's functionality ceased in its entirety, replaced with a message telling users that the service had ceased, and provided a link to download the successor application, "Facebook for Every Phone". On July 22, 2013, Facebook announced that Facebook for Every Phone has reached over 100 million monthly active users. A few months later, the company released a white paper that included an entire chapter about Facebook for Every Phone. The chapter revealed many details regarding the technical operation of the Snaptu system and the methods used to achieve high efficiency. On September 12, 2014, the Facebook app page of Facebook for Every Phone indicated over half a billion likes. Despite this high number, the company hasn't released any additional information about the app.

Facebook lite Facebook has further repurposed the Snaptu technology stack and on June 4, 2015 it launched its Facebook Lite app for low-end Android devices based on the Snaptu technology. The company had been testing the app for a while and had been gradually rolling it out to a growing part of its user base. On February 8, 2017, Facebook announced that Facebook Lite is being used by 200 million people. In October 2018, Facebook started testing Facebook Lite for iOS. Just like its Android counterpart, the iOS app is targeting older and slower phones.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Snaptu

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Snaptu claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Snaptu before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Snaptu ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Snaptu

In research: Snaptu appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Snaptu in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Snaptu is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2011 mergers and acquisitions, Browsers, Companies based in Tel Aviv, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Snaptu outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Snaptu in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Snaptu means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Snaptu out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Snaptu in simple terms?

Why does Snaptu matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Snaptu?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Snaptu.