Facebook's new messaging service is about to turn
into Facebook's new voice service. Today at Mobile
World Congress, WhatsApp announced it's
branching out into phone calls.
According to CEO Jan Koum, the free VOIP feature
should be coming to the Android and iOS versions
of the app this spring, with Windows Phone and
Blackberry to follow. By offering text and voice and
being owned by Facebook, WhatsApp will now join
the ranks of Microsoft-owned Skype and Google's
Hangouts.
But WhatsApp and Facebook combined probably
already have a list of everyone you know, which is a
convenient little head start. Then again, voice
calling in Facebook Messenger already existed, but
never quite caught on. Maybe WhatsApp can be the
second chance it never had.
into Facebook's new voice service. Today at Mobile
World Congress, WhatsApp announced it's
branching out into phone calls.
According to CEO Jan Koum, the free VOIP feature
should be coming to the Android and iOS versions
of the app this spring, with Windows Phone and
Blackberry to follow. By offering text and voice and
being owned by Facebook, WhatsApp will now join
the ranks of Microsoft-owned Skype and Google's
Hangouts.
But WhatsApp and Facebook combined probably
already have a list of everyone you know, which is a
convenient little head start. Then again, voice
calling in Facebook Messenger already existed, but
never quite caught on. Maybe WhatsApp can be the
second chance it never had.
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