It’s been an exciting few months for WhatsApp; first the messaging service hit 450 million monthly users in December, then it was acquired for $19 billion by Facebook just last week. The latest exciting news from the world’s most popular internet-based messaging app is apparently free voice calls.
If all goes according to plan, we might get free voice calls before the end of this year, at least that’s the news from the app’s co-founder and CEO Jan Koum. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress early this week, Kuom confirmed that an internet calling feature was intended to roll out on WhatsApp sometime during the second quarter. The first platforms to receive the big update will be Android and iOS.
Fresh out of the acquisition deal with Facebook, Kuom is now estimated to be worth more than $6 billion thanks to the sales of the app he helped to launch back in 2009. With a huge user base in a number of countries, WhatsApp will now be going up against internet call services such as Skype and Viber.
