WhatsApp is set to add the ability to send and receive voice messages through its app for the first time..
The firm, bought last week by Facebook, will launch the service within weeks in a bid to take on phone firms.
CEO Jan Koum said the voice service will be deployed for Android and iPhones this spring, with Blackberry and Microsoft and Nokia phones coming later.
‘We are going to introduce voice in WhatsApp in the second quarter of this year,’ Koum said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
‘I think we have the best voice product out there.
‘We use the least amount of bandwidth.’
WhatsApp currently has a voice function but only in note form. This new service will be live.
On Wednesday, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in a deal that is by far the biggest by the social networking company and any other done by Google, Microsoft or Apple.
Wearing a gray shirt, jeans and a black jacket, the 38-year-old Koum quipped – ‘last week we added a new Facebook friend.
‘I don’t know if you guys heard.’
However, the firm was hit by technical problems days later as ‘server issues’ caused a crash on Saturday.
The popular application’s chat conversations – used by more than 450 million people across the world each month – showed a loading asterisk and alert, ‘Connecting…’ while the problems persisted.
The blockbuster deal made serious waves with those in the telecommunications industry who gathered this week in the Catalan city, but also sparked concern among users that Facebook would introduce advertising to WhatsApp.
source: Dailymail UK
Tags: app, Phone, technology, voice call, whatsapp
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