Last Seen by Facebook – The Untold Story of WhatsApp [Infographic]

From the pop up notifications to the blue ticks. WhatsApp is the most important part of our daily “apptivity”. It has taken instant messaging to a whole new level, so much so that Facebook bought it for $19billion. WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum & Brian Acton in the year 2009. Koum’s success story is heart-warming and awe-inspiring. He lived in the rural part of Kiev and grew up amidst intense political turmoil. The teenager who was a food stamp recipient went on to become a billionaire. After Facebook acquired the messaging app, he stepped into the tech billionaire club with a net worth of $6.8bn, keeping 45% share of the company.

Jan & Brian collectively spent 20 years in Yahoo and experienced failure numerous times. Brian was turned down by both Facebook and Twitter, but he kept on trying. WhatsApp was heavily influenced by iMessage and the app was first launched in the Apple App Store. The main idea behind WhatsApp was to design a cross-platform app for smartphones, in which the user doesn’t have to pay the SMS fees. WhatsApp is on the verge of reaching 1 billion users and it is sure to be an incredible milestone. It features in the top 10 most downloaded apps of all time and has rolled out the calling feature as well.

In this infographic about WhatsApp, we will have a quick look at its journey from the beginning and see what the numbers have to say. So check it out to know more about your favorite messaging app.

By Pathikrit Banerjee