In the era we live today, cost and distance does not matter when it is all about communicating to people. Internet, telecommunications and the efforts to make continuous up gradations in technology allows us to live in a world where in communicating is just a matter of seconds.
Five years ago, WhatsApp got introduced with a simple mission and that was building a product that can be used across globally. Facebook has acquired the messaging app, WhatsApp for a deal worth $19 billion (£11.4 billion). And, so far this is the biggest acquisition for this social networking giant.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook, said: “WhatsApp is on a path to connect one billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable.”
The WhatsApp messenger is a smartphone messenger available for all Android devices. The messenger allows users to send across messages, picture, audio notes and video messages to other users absolutely free. The app just has to be downloaded to the devices and using 3G or Wi-Fi, information can be exchanged amongst the users. They made revenue by charging users a subscription fee of $1 per year. The company claims of registering one million users on a daily basis.
The deal to buy it includes $19 billion in which $4 billion is in cash, $12 worth of Facebook shares plus and additional of $3 billion in stock to WhatsApp founders and employees until date.
Jan Koum, co-founder and chief executive of WhatsApp, said: “WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We’re excited and honoured to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world.”
In a conference call, Jan Koum stated that he will continue to operate the firm independently and he is really excited to partner with Mark Zuckerberg and bring the product to the reach of more people. Mark Zuckerberg described WhatsApp services as absolutely incredible. He believed that WhatsApp was on track to have billions of users, however he did not have much plans to place any kind of advertising on WhatsApp interface. WhatsApp will continue to operate independently within Facebook, probably would function to complement the existing chat and messaging services by providing new tools for the community.
Facebook messenger is already a widely used for chatting with Facebook friends and WhatsApp is used for communicating with all your contacts and small groups of people. However, WhatsApp’s messaging product and Facebook’s existing Messenger app will continue to operate as standalone applications.
WhatsApp was already a fantastic tool for communication and now its association with Facebook is certain to add new developments, taking the company to new heights and leading the way for new opportunities.