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.

Paper app CEO urges Facebook to rename story-telling app

On more Facebook-related news, Facebook is being asked by a mobile app developer FiftyThree to rename its recently launched Paper app in the US only. The company’s CEO Georg Petschnigg wrote on FiftyThree’s blog to ask Facebook to “stop using our brand name.” The developer launched a pretty popular app in the App Store called Paper back in 2012.

While Facebook apologized for the confusion, Petschnigg still believes the social network should change its new iOS app’s name. “We think Facebook can apply the same degree of thought they put into the app into building a brand name of their own. An app about stories shouldn’t start with someone else’s story.”

Facebook reminisces with you on 10th anniversary

Facebook will be marking its 10^th anniversary tomorrow, February 4, and the social network hopes to share the milestone with you. The company is introducing “A Look Back” feature that will go live tomorrow. It shows you a personalized collection of photos or clips of the biggest moments you’ve had since you joined the site.

At the moment, there are over 1.2 billion monthly active users on the site with 19 million users from Canadians monthly and 14 million daily. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that he the community continues to grow and develop in the coming years: “It's been amazing to see how people have used Facebook to build a real community and help each other in so many ways. In the next decade, we have the opportunity and responsibility to connect everyone and to keep serving the community as best we can.”

See only the posts you want to see with new Facebook iOS app update

Facebook has updated its iOS app to allow users to select which updates they want to see in their News Feed. While the News Feed generally measures different parameters to show you what they think is relevant for you, it isn’t always accurate. Now, the social network is giving you more control over what you want to see. iOS users can also now view videos a user uploaded in one album. 

Source: Ubergizmo