WhatsApp Inc., the mobile messaging service that agreed to be
acquired last week by Facebook Inc. for $19 billion,has disclosed that
it would offer voice calling as early as April, allowing free phone
calls among WhatsApp’s about 465 million users.
Jan Koum, the co-founder and chief executive of WhatsApp, also said
during a speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that he is hoping
to grow the service to one or two billion users.
The CEO said that the WhatsApp voice product would “focus on
simplicity” as it has with its text-based messaging service. He said
that WhatsApp would first release a version of the voice service for
Apple Inc.’s,iPhone and Google Inc.’s Android platforms, followed by
services for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone, as well as some phones by
BlackBerry Ltd. and Nokia Corp.
“We want to continue to have that minimalistic approach to the
product,” he said. “We at WhatsApp want to get out of the way and let
people communicate.” Mr. Koum added that the voice product would “use
the least amount of bandwidth, and we optimize the hell out of it.”
Speaking about the Facebook acquisition announcement earlier this
month, Mr. Koum said that the product wouldn’t change, stressing that
WhatsApp would remain independent. He cited Instagram’s example, after
the acquisition of the photo-sharing service by Facebook.
Mr. Koum said that WhatsApp was likely valuable to Facebook because
“we both want to make the world more connected,” though Mr. Koum
stressed that WhatsApp wanted to know “as little as possible” about its
users, including details such as a user’s name.
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