The WhatsApp download page on its website
Previous rumours claimed that Facebook
was also negotiating to buy the popular cross-platform mobile messaging app,
emphasising that several major businesses are keen to improve how that
handle instant messages. None, however, has spoken publicly about any
potential deal.
WhatsApp has, according to some studies, played a direct part in declining SMS
growth, and is reported to earn $100m a year. It processes up to 18billion
messages per day and is currently available in 100 countries on 750 mobile
networks. It is routinely among the top apps in each of those countries.
According to DigitalTrends.com,
negotiations have been continuing for more than a month, with WhatsApp
reportedly “playing hardball” to secure a better price.
Facebook’s $1billion purchase of photosharing service Instagram last year has
bolstered the confidence of companies aiming to sell to larger Silicon
Valley firms, and with BlackBerry enhancing its own popular BBM messenger,
the focus has now fallen on applications that make communication easier.
Google has also
reportedly been working on a new, unified messaging service to be called
Babel, but Product Manager Nikhyl Singhal told GigaOM last year that the
company has “done an incredibly poor job of servicing our users here”.
DigitalTrends claimed that “messaging is a huge, gaping hole in Google’s
mobile strategy”.
A number of messaging apps such as Line and WeChat have found rapid
popularity, but WhatsApp remains one of the most popular. It charges a
yearly, nominal fee to keep the service free of advertising, and also has
deals with some mobile networks for international messages.