What's 'appening with WhatsApp? '800 MEEELLION LOSERS* actively use us', says boss

The CEO of Facebook-owned WhatsApp claimed on Friday that the mobile messaging service was now accessed by 800 million chumps worldwide each month. CEO Jan Koum said in a brief Facebook post that WhatsApp was "now serving 800,000,000 monthly active users." He added that "active and registered users are not the same thing". …

[x 7]

" the mobile messaging service was now accessed by 800 million chimps worldwide each month."

So by the law of averages the chimps should be well on the way to randomly completing Shakespeare's works by now?

[ecofeco]

$19bn?

Seriously, no. You have to be part of a special club to get that kind of buyout. An inbred one at that. Companies that produce actual physical products with direct physical benefits to people who use them don't get bought for that much.

[DN4]

Re: $19bn?

Producing actual useful physical products? My, that is so difficult. And lots of things can go wrong in the process. You must be crazy to invest money to that...

[Anonymous Coward]

meh

Most people I know use Google hangouts, far more features and better phone and computer integration.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: meh

No one I know from several hundred tech contacts uses Google Hangouts. They mostly use Skype, BBM or Whatsapp. No one wants The Borg spying on their chats...

[Alan Denman]

Re: meh

Well Whatsapp works OK too.

Likewise it has no idiotic walled garden to navigate.

It should be made 100% free too though. Ads are where they will win big $

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatsapp is brilliant

It's what SMS and MMS should have been. RELIABLE. Works on wifi. Never a problem sending any multimedia. No ads. $1 / year. I don't get why anyone would be snotty about Whatsapp users. It's by far the best text alternative.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Whatsapp is brilliant

You mean it is what Google should have built in to Android if they had half a brain. Instead they've given all that juicy data collection to Facebook.

[Red Sceptic]

Why "chumps"?

I don't get the negativity here. WhatsApp is an extremely useful messaging app for those people who need (or simply want) to communicate with others who live in places where data connectivity works differently (often less effectively and/or more expensively) than in their own neighbourhood.

As an example, I have several clients with whom WhatsApp makes timely communication possible and straightforward, and a far better choice than email. Clearly YMMV with WhatsApp, but just because it's part of the Zuckerburg empire doesn't automatically mean that everyone who uses it is bereft of all intellect.

[Terry 6]

Re: Why "chumps"?

Standard SMS messages are limited and images are "off-plan" so cost real money.

I'd much rather pay a small amount each year for messaging that works across 4G/WiFi with all that rich content.

For domestic use, round the family and friends it is brilliant.

[durandal]

Re: Why "chumps"?

And now with end-to-end encryption.

[Anonymous Coward]

metrics, metrics but never the word EXCLUSIVE

I use (in order of amount of use);-

Viber

FB Messenger

Skype

Line

Whatsapp

Wechat

WhatsApp

Chaton

and sometimes Tango

I wish i could standardise on one of them (and that tends to happen a little geographically) but every one uses something different and I become a registered and active user who shows in metrics for most of the chat apps. But they can never count exclusive users... they are more likely to pay.

[x 7]

Re: metrics, metrics but never the word EXCLUSIVE

Whatsapp/WhatsApp - so good you used it twice????

[Davie Dee]

Re: metrics, metrics but never the word EXCLUSIVE

wp7 did, then they removed it, great shame really good feature

[mpinco]

Re: metrics, metrics but never the word EXCLUSIVE

With multiple messaging/chat protocols, time to aggregate under on tool ...... Blackberry Hub

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: metrics, metrics but never the word EXCLUSIVE

"With multiple messaging/chat protocols, time to aggregate under on tool ...... Blackberry Hub"

With considerable reluctance I'm moving from BB to Android - because I'm no longer a corporate user and I'm not sure about ongoing support. But the Hub is something that Google need to steal. They've now got all the best bits of webOS, so much that I hardly miss it any more, might as well go the whole hog.

[Major Major]

Re: metrics, metrics but never the word EXCLUSIVE

When FB bought WhatsApp I tried to switch to Telegram and Threema, but it never caught on with my (non-techie) friends. A few months later I was back on WhatsApp.

[The Islander]

Re Zuck in an empty room

Surely he was trying to prove that uncertainty thingy but just couldn't bring himself to inflict another cat video on us

[Mystic Megabyte]

Re: Re Zuck in an empty room @the islander

He dare not move from on top of that desk. 50% of those balloons contain poison gas and somewhere on the floor is a drawing pin.

[imanidiot]

Is it justme

or is the guy in that balloon photo REALLY unhappy?

[Yugguy]

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