Facebook buys WhatsApp for $19 billion

After rumours of Facebook acquiring popular mobile messaging service WhatsApp, flying around for months now, the social networking company has finally bitten the bullet.

Facebook on Wednesday, announced that it will acquire the popular cross-platform mobile messaging company, WhatsApp for $19 billion.

“The acquisition supports Facebook and WhatsApp’s shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably. The combination will help accelerate growth and user engagement across both companies,” the filing stated.

“WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. “I’ve known Jan for a long time and I’m excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected.”

The company also announced that WhatsApp’s cofounder and CEO Jan Koum would join Facebook’s board of directors.

“WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We’re excited and honored to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world,” Jan Koum, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO, said of the acquisition.

In a separate blog post on the WhatsApp site, Koum said that the partnership with Facebook “will give WhatsApp the flexibility to grow and expand”.

“WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee. You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you’re using. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication,” he said.

WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by two former Yahoo employees, Jan Koum and Brian Acton. The mobile messaging service claims to have over 450 million monthly registered users — a larger user base than social networks like Twitter or LinkedIn — and claims to deliver 10 billion messages each day.

While Facebook has tried to incorporate its own messaging service as part of its mobile experience, its acquisition of WhatsApp will help cement its position as leader in mobile messaging.

Facebook last April paid $1 billion to acquire Instagram and its acquisition of WhatsApp is its largest till date.

Introducing the 'Future' of Facebook - "PAPER"

Introducing the 'Future' of Facebook - "PAPER"
Basically Flipboard + FB + Instagram + Google Reader + YouTube in ONE app!

 Earlier this week, a tiny secret division of Facebook, called Creative Labs, released an iPhone app, Paper.  It’s a way to experience Facebook so novel that it barely resembles Facebook at all. There is no News Feed, no Timeline, no stream of any kind. The main screen is divided into two squares stacked on top of each other. The top square is a full-bleed photo overlaid with the word “Facebook” and a headline, in crisp white text. Swiping left or right on the top square moves between customizable “sections”: in addition to your friends’ updates, the traditional Facebook content, there are categories such as news, photography, sports, and food. Each is reportedly curated by editors at Facebook—real, human editors who pick articles from select publications, and Facebook posts from well-known people, to feature in each section.

Paper presents stories from the user's Facebook news feed as well as outside sources in a sparse, gesture-based user interface reminiscent of the Flipboard newsreader. Content is segregated into themed sections — the news feed is first, and users can mix-and-match other sections with topics like photography and sports. 

The bottom half of the screen is taken up by up a horizontal row of cards—Google’s favorite post-stream metaphor, too—each one representing a single item, like a status update, link, or photo gallery. Again, you swipe left or right to move from one card to another. When you touch or zoom in on one, the card takes up the whole screen. If it’s a link and you tap it, the card unfolds—with an exquisite animation—and reveals a full-screen view of the original site. Swiping down folds the site back up, returning you to Paper, to flick through more cards.

Facebook's photo and video viewing experience has also received an overhaul in Paper. Videos will automatically play in full-screen mode, and users can pan around large photos by tilting their iPhone.

The app provides a WYSIWYG, or what-you-see-is-what-you-get, interface for posting content. The preview that users see on screen reflects exactly what the post will look like when viewed in Paper by others. 

Paper will be available for download only on iPhone for now (Android version will follow soon) from 3rd February in US.click the link blow to get the video how it work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhrbT9O6kW8