How Did Instagram Begin: Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom are the main names behind the invention of Instagram. It was evolved from an application for iPhones known as Burbn.
The Burbn app was a little too complicated in its initial stages but the duo worked on it. They finally made it into a simpler concept and called it Instagram. At first, Burbn could be used to check-in, make future plans, and earn points and such. They then decided to remove all the clutter and focus on being good at one specific thing. Their point of focus turned out to be sharing mobile photography. Considering it was similar to an instant telegram, they renamed it Instagram. Kevin Systrom actually learned how to code all by himself without signing up for any professional courses. He then went ahead and built the Burbn prototype in HTML5 and gave it to his friends to try out.
Soon after he attended a party prospective investors were attending. Since they agreed to invest in his idea, he quit his job and went all in. Kevin then started working with Mike Krieger to build Burbn. They realized that all the different functions that they tried to cram in were making things worse. Focusing on sharing photos, they built a prototype. However, this did not work out well either. They made Burbn an iPhone app but it still wasn’t what they were looking for. De-cluttering everything, they decided to focus solely on the photos. Renaming this simple yet ingenious photo-sharing version as Instagram, they launched it. And as we all know, became an overnight success.
Although the app was initially just for iPhone users, they released a version for Android phones in 2012. This got them many more users in a couple of hours of launch itself. Soon after, Facebook started talks to acquire Instagram. Within a couple of months and with all the legal technicalities out of the way, the deal was sealed. The amount in question for this deal was estimated at about a billion dollars.
Later in 2013, Instagram also launched a version for Windows Phone. Instagram also added the “Direct” feature in December of 2013. This was aimed at competing with other social messaging apps to allow users private messaging as well. Over time Instagram keeps updating and making changes to the app to make it
better than it already is.
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