In light of Uber’s recent decision to refocus their messaging services from Twilio to internal tools, Twilio’s shares have dropped by 30%. This does not come as a surprise considering Uber is their largest client. 

Twilio’s business model is built on a small number of reusable APIs that initially took the communications and developer communities by storm. This was due to qualities such as ease of implimentation and ability to scale. However, is this a good long term strategy? 

As it becomes apparent that larger companies are developing tools in house and are seeking solutions customizable to their needs that provide analytics, custom feature sets, increased security, and etc., time will tell.

Some key considerations that the tech giant and other companies in the CPaaS space are facing:  

• Simple developer telecom APIs are becoming a commodity
• Racing to zero on pricing
• Industry overcrowding 
• Lack of product differentiation
• Increase in availability of customizable solutions

Are you surprised by this news?