The messaging application WhatsApp reaches 600 million marks. According to a tweet posted by WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, the messaging app now has more than 600million active monthly users. The WhatsApp user count has shot up radically since its acquisition by Facebook.
Facebook had purchased WhatsApp messaging app for a whooping $16 billion and an additional $3billion in restricted stocks. However, with the rising margin of users, it seems that Facebook had made quite a good deal.
WhatsApp Climb:
WhatsApp was founded by ex-Yahoo employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum in the year 2009. The messaging app was first launched only for iPhones when Apple released a push notification kit for developers.
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Initially WhatsApp was allowed only to send messages. As the WhatsApp user count grew, developers upgraded it to send images as well. With the rising number of users developers kept upgrading the messaging app which could now send videos and voice messages as well. In 2011 WhatsApp was among the top twenty best messaging apps.
The user friendly app saw registration in thousands each day. Before the acquisition by Facebook, WhatsApp had recorded 450 million monthly users. This had been a ground breaking achievement. The recent announcement by the founder that the WhatsApp user count has reached 600 million users was outstanding.
WhatsApp is now the leading messaging app globally. WeChat has taken the second position with nearly 440 million users. The messaging app developed by Chinese company Tencent has most of its users from China itself. Viber, Line and Kik are the few others in the race, though far behind. However, WeChat has its revenues on the positive side with it focusing more on the gaming arena. Line too has been gaining at a quite fast pace. Still it is far from crossing the Watspp user count.
Future Plans:
CEO Koum said that it has no plans to incorporate any advertisement or gaming into WhatsApp any time soon. It aims at remaining a messaging app dedicated to users. However, with Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp, it will not be long before the messaging app too will be bombarded with ads and promos.
The Tech Cult 