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Is the creator of 6snap for Windows Phone secretly communicating with the makers of Snapchat?

• There is a great third-party Snapchat app called 6snap.  This is from the same developer that also made great apps for Vine and Instagram.  6snap was even featured by Microsoft in the Windows Phone app store.   A while ago, there was a different third-party Snapchat app for Windows Phone called Swapchat.  However, the owners of Snapchat issued Microsoft a cease-and-desist order to remove Swapchat from the Windows Phone store, which they did.   So I'm  wondering why they haven't done the same for 6snap.  6snap adds a bunch of features that aren't in the regular Snapchat app,such as groups of friends, text wrapping, and Instagram-style filters, so I would think that Snapchat wouldn't like it.  But like I said, 6snap was even featured in the Windows Phone store, which makes it seem like there's not conflicts.  Could it be that the Snapchat creators are happy with the quality of 6snap and feel like now they don't need to make an official app for Windows Phone?  Are they communicating with the maker of 6snap and telling him about what updates are coming so that he can implement them?

• Answer:

  It's hard to say really. I don't think the 6snap developer is in secret talks but does have a dialogue open with Snapchat. The benefit of 6snap for Snapchat is that the latter doesn't have to invest a lot of money in to what essentially would be a test-run Windows Phone app. With 6snap they can see how many people have installed it which will give a more secure viability decision in developing an official Snapchat app for Windows Phone. Hence, currently, it suits them for 6snap to be around. Snapchat could be OK with 6snap being around because Snapchat may have an unwritten/unsigned agreement with other parties not to develop for Windows Phone. It's a small world in the big 5 tech and app companies and I can imagine when it comes to a company like Snapchat who are likely to be acquired at some point there may be a 'we will be more likely to invest if your app isnt in a competitor's app ecosystem". It can get very political with apps, ecosystems and big companies. I think 6snap exists because at the moment it's politically beneficial to Snapchat. They get to serve new users without upsetting other vested interests.