Google May Be Buying Whatsapp for US$1 Billion (Updated)

Update (9/4/2013): It looks like Whatsapp will not be selling to Google after all, as Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp’s business development head, has informed AllThingsDigital that the company is not holding sales talks with Google. 

According to inside sources at Digitaltrends, Google may be interested in acquiring mobile messaging app, Whatsapp, for a rumored US$1 billion.

The move may come as a surprise for some, as rumors had been circulating that Google would soon be launching its Google Babble (or Babel) app, a similar cross-platform messaging service. However, it is possible that Google simply plans on absorbing the technology and user base of Whatsapp into Babble.

Google knows it needs to improve its messaging services as highlighted by Google Product Manager Nikhyl Singhal's confession to GigaOM in June last year, where he stated that Google's current messaging options “have done an incredibly poor job of servicing our users.” 

As such, WhatsApp makes an enticing acquisition as it is consistently the number one paid app in more than 100 countries with a user base size spread throughout more than 100 countries and 750 mobile networks. On New Years Eve 2012 alone WhatsApp saw a record 18 billion messages processed in a day.

Source: Digitaltrends

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