MashTalk: What even is Instagram anymore?

Instagram is dead.

OK, it's not really dead -- it's still growing like crazy -- but if you read Mashable Tech Editor Pete Pachal's obituary for Instagram, you might agree that it's no longer the app you once knew and loved.

Pete makes a good case that Instagram has lost its way (0:44). As the company introduces more new features (most of which appear to be copied from Snapchat), the more it moves away from being the app where people share their single best, most perfect photo to being, well, just another version of Facebook.

I agree that adding photo albums would taint Instagram, but at the very same time, I know that new changes to beloved apps always upset people at first, but then we all move on. It's your choice to stick to the platform or abandon it if decides to be something else.

I would also argue that Instagram was ruined a long time ago -- when it added video, when it let you post in aspect ratio's not 1:1, when it shoehorned in Stories. It stopped being a place to enjoy a person's best curated content years ago.

So what is Instagram anymore if it's not feeds where you can get the best singular posts at a time? Well, it's just a platform for sharing everything, actually. Which is exactly how Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom wants it.

Moving on, we talked about Apple's earning calls (16:52) -- specifically, the iPhone 7's best quarter sale ever and the decline of the iPad. Can Apple resuscitate iPad sales? And if so, what will it take to make people care about the iPad in a plus-sized iPhone world?

Closing out, we mulled over Trump's immigration ban (33:49) and what it means for tech companies. Lance pretty much nails it: It'll stifle innovation and make U.S. tech companies less competitive with global ones.

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