By: Gabe Schmittlein
Popular social media app Instagram
recently presented users with a surprise update that most noticeably included
the addition of Instagram Stories. The peculiarly named feature bears a strange
and surely coincidental resemblance to Snapchat’s Snap Stories. It appears that
the developers of Instagram aren’t prepared to stop innovating, though, as
they’ve just announced that another soon-to-come update will bring about a
novel and unique Pokemon-catching feature, to be aptly named Pokemon Mobile.
Pokemon
Mobile will allow users to catch and battle a wide range of Pokemon using a GPS
system that is very similar to the system utilized by Niantic’s Pokemon Go.
Though Instagram has received some criticism from people claiming that it’s a
direct rip off of Pokemon Go, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom has responded to the
critics through a press release, saying, “new phone who dis?”
Initial
user response to the announcement of Instagram’s Pokemon Mobile has been mixed,
with some people praising the developers’ desire to take risks and venture into
uncharted waters. Others, though, have expressed that the only change Instagram
needs to make is to revert its timeline to a purely chronological system.
Update: At press time it was
announced that Instagram also has a movie-streaming feature in the works, which
they will reportedly be calling Instaflix. CEO Systrom even coined the phrase “Instaflix
and Chill” at the time of the release.