Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is one happy customer as his recent costly conquest, Whatsapp, has reached a monthly active user base of 600 million users. Chief Executive Officer and founder of Whatsapp, Jan Koum, tweeted about the news of the milestone on Sunday.
Whatsapp’s growth has been phenomenal this year after the news of the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) merger was made public. It had previously announced that it had reached the half a billion monthly active users mark this April which was an increase of 50 million active users over a period of two months. If this trend continues, the messaging service could easily surpass the 1 billion user mark by the end of the year. Whatsapp also announced that over 700 million photos and 100 million videos are being shared daily through the low cost internet based messaging service.
Myriad features and low cost are Whatsapp’s strong points
This mobile messaging app, which allows users to send texts, pictures and videos to their contacts through internet rather than their phone carrier, is about five years old now. Besides its versatility, Whatsapp’s ultra-low pricing of $1 a year makes it endearing to customers all over the world as many users, especially in emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico, India and Russia, find the messaging service cheaper than traditional SMS. Whatsapp remains Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s largest acquisition till date with the social networking giant offering $19 billion in cash and stock for the messaging app.
Federal Trade Commission warned Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) over allegations of privacy violations
The Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) – Whatsapp deal had run into trouble in March after a couple of American privacy watchdogs raised concerns over privacy violations. In April, the Federal Trade Commission had green lighted the deal after saying that both parties will be under close scrutiny and warned them to uphold the privacy promises they had made to customers. Now, Facebook has to wait to get the approval of the international regulatory body for the completion of the purchase.