MWC 2014: WhatsApp free calls will be operator's worst nightmare

February 25th, 2014, 23:52 Posted By: wraggster

The service is planned for the second quarter of this year in the hope it will help the company hit one billion users.
WhatsApp and Facebook’s plan to connect / take over the techy world could be closer than we thought.
Jan Koum, CEO of the messaging app announced at MWC yesterday that he is aiming to offer free calling to its 450 million users in the hope it will encourage that number to jump to one billion.
We can imagine the look of shock and horror on the world’s network operators, who had already taken a big hit when OTT messaging services first came into the spotlight – causing SMS revenues to drop drastically.
Adding free calls to its service as well could be devastating for networks around the world.
In yesterday’s keynote speech, Zuckerberg defended paying the extortionate price Facebook paid for WhatsApp – saying that it is the most engaging app he had ever seen on mobile.
James Briscoe, MD of marketing agency Unique Digital, commented: “Voice calling could be just the start, as Facebook has just bought itself a slice of the increasingly important voice search pie.
“Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp was always going to be one that saw a shakeup of the services offered by both platforms (regardless of whether they are merged together or not). All roads led to a future where social networks are true communications backbones, rather than a peripheral bit of fun.”
Following the acquisition, WhatsApp experienced a short-term outage of its services over the weekend, stating: “Sorry we are currently experiencing server issues. We hope to be back up and recovered shortly.”
Here are 22 things – including his WhatsApp comment – that Mark Zuckerberg said in his Keynote speech yesterday…

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/social/mwc...ghtmare/043062

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