Google could buy WhatsApp for $1 billion

• Quentyn Kennemer
• 12 years ago

Google could be making a pretty big bet on its messaging future as it’s being reported that the company is in talks with WhatsApp to acquire it for $1 billion. WhatsApp is one of the biggest messaging apps in mobile, with 100 million daily active users. With one billion messages per day, and a record 18 billion messages sent on New Years’ Eve, it’s safe to say this thing sits as high as any messaging service can.

The timing is interesting considering rumors regarding a unified chat service under the name “Google Babel” will soon be unveiled. Whether or not this acquisition would have an impact on that particular development remains to be seen, but Google will have plans to move forward either way. Should a deal between the two parties be made it will take a while longer for things to go officially official.

Following that, we probably wouldn’t see the influence of WhatsApp on Google’s own products for months. Google obviously doesn’t need a lesson in UI design for its own Android platform so it’s possible the acquisition has more to do with back-end infrastructure and technology than anything else. Of course, Google doesn’t have a strong messaging presence on the likes of iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone so this acquisition could also be just as much about WhatsApp’s familiarity with those platforms as anything else.

[via Mobile World Live]