WhatsApp to include voice capability

Facebook’s recent acquisition, WhatsApp Inc., plans to include voice functionality into the application in the second quarter of 2014. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said at Mobile World Congress the feature will be available first on Android and iOS devices and then Windows and BlackBerry.

“We want to make sure people always have the ability to stay in touch and call their friends, families and loved ones and do it easily and affordably,” Koum said.

Source: Toronto Star

Facebook Messenger to arrive on Windows Phone platform ‘soon’

Microsoft is working hard to play catch-up with the top apps on the other mobile operating systems. Aside from announcing new hardware partners, Microsoft said Facebook’s chat app Messenger will also be coming to Windows Phone soon. Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore did not specify the timeline but it is “coming soon.” While there is already the messaging feature built into the native Facebook app, the Messenger app offers a broader set of features such as the popular “stickers.”

Source: The Verge

10 million Canadians use Facebook via mobile daily

 

Facebook users in Canada have steadily increased their use of the social network on mobile devices. Mobile daily use has jumped from 9.4 million to 10 million between the periods of August 2013 and February 2013. Monthly use is up 15% from 13 million to 15 million. Jordan Banks, Facebook head for Canada, told the Canadian Press that people check Facebook on their phones around 20 times a day.

And while users complain about the presence of ads on their news feed, Banks said the one advertisement among every 20 posts ratio has not affected engagement numbers. "We have a really good sense of how people generally want to interact with the ads and the frequency they're willing to accept and (one in 20 posts) has been universally accepted as being a good ratio." Banks adds that majority of businesses use Facebook to communicate with their market.

Breaking: WhatsApp sold to Facebook for US $19 Billion in cash and stock

Owners of popular cross-platform WhatsApp mobile messaging app resisted selling the company to Google a year ago for US $1 Billion stating numerous times that they were not for sale. Well, all of that has changed today as Facebook has purchased WhatsApp for cash and stock. This causes a tidal shift in the messaging landscape and gives Facebook access to 430 million WhatsApp users and the presence in mobile that they've long desired. 

Specfics of the deal need to be formalized but the transaction involves $12 billion in Facebook stock and $4 billion in cash for WhatsApp. WhatsApp's founders and employees will also get $3 billion in restricted stock.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says WhatsApp is on its way to 1 billion global users. This is huge global push for Facebook since WhatsApp is a familiar and trusted platform right now. Facebook also purchased popular photo sharing service Instagram $ 1 Billion in 2012. Facebook's stock fell 5% in after hours trading following the news of the acquisition. Some user may not relish Facebook owning their mobile messaging app, competitors include BlackBerry Messenger, which was the originator of this type of free SMS, voice and photo-capable messaging application. BBM is currently cross platform for BlackBerry, iOS and Android.