Google is mulling the acquisition of popular cross-platform meesenger tool WhatsApp for as much as $1bn, according to a news report.
Technology news site DigitalTrends reports that the deal started four or five weeks ago, but WhatsApp is pushing for a higher acquisition price, which currently is “close to” $1 billion right now.
Google has so far declined to comment on the report.
Google is rumoured to be working to release its own Babel messenger that will tie together its communication services into one feature, so a cross-platform tool like What’s App could boost its versatility.
With 18 billion messages sent per day on the platform, WhatsApp’s popularity comes from relieving customers of their text messaging plans and using data instead, working especially well when texting internationally.
If Google successfully acquires WhatsApp, it will fill a significant chunk in its digital and mobile communications portfolio. By purchasing WhatsApp, it saves itself the time and money of building a new app from the ground up, or completely reworking how Google Voice handles text messaging.
Although Google does have Google Voice for a messaging service now, that backend relies on the traditional wireless carrier phone network for sending and receiving text messages. With WhatsApp, all of that is shifted away from the carrier network, and on to the data side of the plan.
Founded in 2009 by former Yahoo employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum, WhatsApp is available for Android, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, iOS, Series 40, Symbian (S60), and Windows Phone.
WhatsApp has a solid user base, the application is in use in over 100 countries across over 700 mobile network providers, and the app has seen huge growth in the past year. In 2011 WhatsApp revealed users were sending one billion messages per day on the service. However, by New Years Eve 2012 the number grew to 18 billion messages in one day.
The app charges an annual nominal $0.99 subscription fee to keep it ad-free, but WhatsApp also generates revenue through partnerships with international telecommunications companies. For instance WhatsApp’s monthly local plan in Hong Kong with mobile operator 3 HK costs just $8HK ($1.03 USD) and an international package will run for $48HK ($6.18 USD) per day.
In early December 2012, TechCrunch reported Facebook and Google were both very interested in buying WhatsApp. WhatsApp responded with the typical “no further information to share at the moment.”
Read the Digital Trends report here
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This is interesting to know – especially the high price! – but here in China WhatsApp has lost serious usage in the past 12 months to Tencent’s WeChat/WeiXin – presumably Google has something similar to WeChat up its sleeve …they need to.