TechCrunch had published an article, which hinted
at the possibility of Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB) being interested in WhatsApp as
it had been keeping an eye on the mobile messaging company for quite some time.
However, there will not be any kind of acquisition happening as of yet and
numerous sources have confirmed it. WhatsApp has also gone on board stating the
article in TechCrunch is nothing but a rumor.
But that doesn’t change the fact that WhatsApp is
one of the largest mobile apps in the world and even Instagram does not come
close to it. Facebook and Google have both expressed interested in purchasing
WhatsApp in the past, but the company won’t let go of their independence that
easily. Neeraj Arora, formerly with Google, got so interested in WhatsApp that
he resigned from Google and currently runs business for WhatsApp.
WhatsApp just surpassed the 100 million download
milestone on Google Play. It takes the top spot as a paid app on iOS at $0.99,
in more than 100 countries. Skype, Facebook, Angry Birds and Flash are the only
other non-Google apps with that many downloads. In August, the company said it
was sending and receiving as many as 10 billion messages per day.
WhatsApp distinctly stands out from a social
network. There are no ads supporting the platform like Facebook, Google, and
other networks, users connect their phone address books to find others on the
service, there is no need for a password, and the contacts are not carried over
if the app is deleted or the phone is changed.
The company was founded by Jan Koum Brian Acton,
after they both were in engineering roles at Yahoo for 10 years. Presently,
WhatsApp is very popular as an alternative for paid text messaging from
carriers, especially across international borders. It also steers clear of the
complications and annoyances of Web applications ported to phones.
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