2012 was a remarkable year for mobile messaging app WhatsApp. In fact the last day of the year proved to be an extraordinary one. On December 31 a new single day record for the most messages published was set up. It announced that 18 billion total messages were processed, surpassing its previous record of 10 billion messages, which was recorded in last August. The company stated that there were 7 billion messages delivered inbound and another 11 billion delivered outbound. The difference between the two was the group chat. As it explains: “sending one message into group chat of 10 people is 1:10 inbound:outbound”. If we compare with the Apple’s numbers, we’ll notice that iOS 5′s iMessage service generates around 150 billion messages, generating more than 1 billion a day.
Previously we might have noted that WhatsApp is a service that has projected itself as a text replacement and offers features that are not available in the native texting apps. Though some are
not believing the hype surrounding it. Brian Acton, a co-founder of the company, in an interview defended the service over accusations that it was ‘stealing’ revenue from operators. He insisted that WhatsApp should not bee seen as a threat to operators. “I view it from the perspective that we’re facilitating a broad movement to data plans and the entities that provide those plans are the carriers, so they stand to benefit quite substantially. It’s all about the data”, he said. Taking a major step forward in attracting more users to its service, a few months ago it made its first carrier roaming deal with Hong Kong operator Three to offer unlimited use of its app domestically. It has also made similar deals in 78 other countries to provide similar facilities at little cost. It would be indolent on our part not to mention the rumors in 2012 about Facebook acquiring the company, which ultimately turned out to be bogus. To read the original story, click here.
