WhatsApp IM Tool Approaches 1 Billion Users

Instant messaging service WhatsApp is seeking to reassure its users about their privacy by encrypting all messages sent via its app. In a blog post written by WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum on Tuesday, Koum explains that every conversation on the messaging service, whether it be a private or group chat, will have full end-to-end encryption, thus making the recipient the only person who can see the message. "No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us," writes Koum, in his blog on the WhatsApp website. "End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private – sort of like a face-to-face conversation," said Koum. Koum is the CEO of WhatsApp, the mobile messaging startup Facebook for $19B USD earlier this year. He’s disappointed because his company’s mobile app has only reached about 990 million people. On stage in Germany, he was hoping to announce a billion. But as disappointments go, it’s a small one. WhatsApp—a quick, easy, inexpensive way to trade text messages and photos—is now the second-most popular app on Earth (not counting the apps Google and Apple bundle with their own mobile operating systems). Only Facebook’s own app reaches more people. Since Facebook purchased WhatsApp—and many questioned whether Mark Zuckerberg and company had grossly overpaid for the startup—the audience has more than doubled for Koum’s creation, which he developed in 2009 with his old colleague Brian Acton. Let's here from any WhatsApp users about the value they receive from this innovative app. Kindly send your feedback to the Smartphone and Tablet Zone: http://smartphoneandtabletzone.blogspot.com/