As it nears 500 million users, Line now has more than WhatsApp had when it was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in February. WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform instant messaging subscription service for smartphones and selected feature phones that uses the internet for communication. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images, video, and audio media messages as well as their location using integrated mapping features. WhatsApp Inc. was founded in 2009 by US citizens Brian Acton and Jan Koum (also the CEO), both former employees of Yahoo!, and is based in Mountain View, California. The company employs 55 people. The company is currently in the process of takeover after Facebook Inc. announced its acquisition of WhatsApp Inc. on February 19, 2014, for US$19 billion.
In a December 2013 blog post, WhatsApp claimed that 400 million active users use the service each month. As of 22 April 2014, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700 million photos and 100 million videos are shared each day, and the messaging system handles more than 10 billion messages each day. Just three days after announcing that WhatsApp had been purchased by Facebook, Koum advanced that they were working to introduce voice calls in the coming months. Apart from this surprise, he also advanced that new mobile phones will be sold in Germany with the WhatsApp brand, as their main goal is to be in all smartphones.
In a December 2013 blog post, WhatsApp claimed that 400 million active users use the service each month. As of 22 April 2014, WhatsApp had over 500 million monthly active users, 700 million photos and 100 million videos are shared each day, and the messaging system handles more than 10 billion messages each day. Just three days after announcing that WhatsApp had been purchased by Facebook, Koum advanced that they were working to introduce voice calls in the coming months. Apart from this surprise, he also advanced that new mobile phones will be sold in Germany with the WhatsApp brand, as their main goal is to be in all smartphones.
