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WhatsApp Messenger, or simply WhatsApp, is an American freeware, cross-platform centralized messaging and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by Facebook, Inc. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share pictures, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices but is also available from desktop computers, as long as the user's mobile device stays connected with the Internet while they use the desktop application.
The service requires every user to give a standard cell phone number for registering with the service. In January 2018, WhatsApp delivered a standalone business application targeted at small business owners, called WhatsApp Business, to allow companies to communicate with clients who use the standard WhatsApp customer.
The client application was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for roughly US$19.3 billion. It became the world's most famous messaging application by 2015, and has more than 2 billion users worldwide as of February 2020. It has become the primary means of internet communication in various locations, including Latin America, the Indian subcontinent, and large parts of Europe and Africa.
In January 2009, after buying an iPhone and realizing the capability of the application industry on the App Store, Koum and Acton started visiting Koum's friend Alex Fishman in West San Jose to examine another type of messaging application that would show "statuses next to individual names of the people". They understood that to take the idea further, they would require an iPhone developer. Fishman visited RentACoder.com, found Russian developer Igor Solomennikov, and introduced him with Koum.
By February 2013, WhatsApp had around 200 million active users and 50 staff members. Sequoia contributed another $50 million, and WhatsApp was valued at $1.5 billion. Sometime in 2013, WhatsApp acquired Santa Clara based startup, SkyMobius, the developers of Vtok, a video and voice calling application. In a December 2013 blog post, WhatsApp claimed that 400 million active users use the service every month.
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