The cross-platform messaging service WhatsApp deals with nearly 20 billion messages every day, the company’s CEO has revealed.
The app, which charges a 69p annual subscription fee, but offers free messaging across iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry platforms, now boasts more than Twitter’s 200 million active monthly users, according to CEO Jan Koum, although he refused to be drawn on exactly how many.
On top of that, the 20 billion messages exchanged (12 billion outgoing and 8 billion incoming) every 24 hours is double the 10 billion messages sent over Facebook during the same period, he revealed at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference on Tuesday.
How many company’s can claim, in one way shape or form, that they’re bigger than Facebook and Twitter?
Prior to today’s interview, the iMessage, Skype and Facebook Messenger rival had been in the news regarding a reported $1 billion acquisition offer from Google.
With numbers like those above, it’s little wonder that Google would be interested in buying up WhatsApp as it looks to establish itself as an instant messaging powerhouse in its own right.
Officially, WhatsApp claimed it did not receive an offer from Google, but other accounts claimed the search and mobile giant was told where to go, in no uncertain terms.
Today, Koum confirmed: “Our goal is to build a sustainable, independent company,” Koum said. “We want to build a business.”
Following criticism of its move to a subscription model (despite saving many of its users a small fortune in text costs) Koum reiterated the company’s commitment to providing an ad-free service for its customers.
“We do have a manifesto opposing advertising. We’re proud of that Who likes advertising? We’re so bombarded with ads so much in our daily lives and we felt that smartphones aren’t the place for that. Putting advertising on a device like that is a bad idea. You don’t want to be interrupted by ads when you’re chatting with your loved ones.”
We hear you, Jan. We hear you.
Via: The Verge
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
