“Things actually work best for those who make the best of how things work.”
Whatsapp Inc was founded in 2009 by two ex-Yahoo employees, Brian Acton and Jan Koum. Today, it is one of the most famous and popular instant messaging apps available in the world. Let’s explore what went behind making this new age addiction. Jan Koum was not from a wealthy family, he stayed with his mother and grandmother in a small apartment. With all his efforts and hard work, he finally got into San Jose State University where he took training in the program.
Jan Koum met his business partner, Brian while working at Yahoo as an engineer. They left the organization after working there for almost 9 years. Rejected by Facebook, the planned on making an app for iPhone users. They created the app which received amazing success in a very short period of time. The app gained widespread popularity because of its easy to use interface. Users were not required to fill in long-winded registration forms to be able to use the app. The app’s success was like a dream come true for both of them.
Jan Koum chose the name Whatsapp, and they started building an app where people would have their status next to their names. Because of the failure in the initial models, Jan Koum was getting disheartened and was almost about to give up but it was his partner who asked him to not give up so easily. Finally in November 2009, after many months of Beta testing, Whatsapp was finally launched in the app store of iPhones. The Blackberry version was released just after 2 months.
Without advertising, they earned millions of dollars. They made money by charging for first-time installation for both iPhone and Android users every year. Reports state that approximately around 250 million people use Whatsapp in a month. This is a huge number for any application to reach in the smartphone space.
More the people use and install Whatsapp, more the partners will earn. Money was going straight into their pockets. There was no outside investment in making the application, all the development was done in Russia itself. They could have earned more by creating the Whatsapp Corporation. They could have earned by selling it.
Both the partners worked at Yahoo for more than 9 years and it was there, that they learnt the tricks of the trade. Yahoo works with advertisements, but this was not the case with Whatsapp. Most of the users do not like advertisements while using an application. Keeping this in mind, both of them made an app which is simple to use while avoiding advertisements. This made WhatsApp an instant fixture for users all over the world.
There are only 55 employees in Whatsapp Inc. but they serve millions of people each day. The main motive of the app is to let users connect with loved ones instantly, no matter how far they are. Whatsapp is now owned by Facebook, which made both the partners Jan and Brian billionaires in a very short time.
WhatsApp is replacing regular text messages like a storm. Users can text, chat and share media, including voice messages and video, with individuals or groups. They can also share location and organize lists of contacts to quickly send messages through group chats.
Whatsapp is a cost effective way of keeping in touch with friends and family putting up in foreign countries. It incurs no international charges and just needs a basic internet connection to function. Worldwide, over 900 million users are actively using Whatsapp. The majority of Whatsapp users live in Europe, India, and America.
According to WhatsApp, the messages sent over its network are encrypted and are not stored on its server. However the company is being investigated in Canada and Netherlands for its ability to register a person’s phone without their permission and subsequently, intercept the messages as well.
With such a large user base, strict privacy controls and multimedia sharing options, Whatsapp is the “it” messaging application. However, from 2017, many users will not be able to access the app on their phones.
According to reports, Whatsapp will stop working on some devices by the end of 2016 unless they are upgraded. With more than one billion users, Whatsapp was phasing out compatibility with older phones in technology upgradation. If you own any of the old devices, you will either need to buy a new phone or check if your phone is upgraded to the higher operating version.
Let’s take a look at the devices that would be of no use to you if you are a Whatsapp freak:
- All the Blackberry devices, including Bold, Curve, Pearl, and Touch. If it is a Blackberry, it won’t work.
- A whole range of Nokia old phones that runs S40 software: Asha, X2, X3, C2. Get ready to upgrade to the new device.
- Some more Nokia devices, that run on Symbian S60 software like C7, E5, Nokia 5530 Xpress Music, and N97. From this, you can easily say that if it’s a Nokia device then the chances are high that it will no longer be supported. If you want to check, what type of Nokia device you have, simply dial *#0000# and if matches any of the above-mentioned Nokia devices, then Whatsapp is a thing of past for you.
- Some of the Android phones, mostly older and the slow ones. If you don’t know about the version of your Android phone, then just go to Settings, System, About phone and check the Android version there. If it is 2.1 or 2.2, then better plan for the upgrade or for a new device by December 2016.
- If you have a Lumia Mango, the phone that is so old that there’s nothing on the internet related to it. Dial *#0000# on your Nokia phone, if it has Windows 7.1 written, be ready to upgrade.
Google’s Android distribution suggested that there are still millions of smartphones across the globe which are running on the older versions of Android like KitKat, Jelly Bean, and Lollipop. Android 5.0 and 5.1 Lollipop operating systems, which are 2 years old, are present in almost 34 percent of Android devices but older operating systems like Android KitKat and Jelly Bean are still present in 25.2 percent and 13.7 percent of all Android devices respectively. Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread are present on 1.3 percent devices while the ancient Android Froyo still has 0.1 percent of all devices.
Millions of the users will be affected across different platforms, not in a massive number though as there are many users who use Facebook’s Messenger. Not many users of Android will be affected but Whatsapp will not run on 2.1 and 2.2 versions of the popular OS. If you have any of these versions, better upgrade your phone soon before your app becomes useless. Windows phone 7 users will have to get the other devices or needs to upgrade as well. For iPhone users, make sure that your device is not running on iOS 6 or the older version to continue enjoying Whatsapp and same is in the case of iPhone 3GS devices.
According to statistics, only 0.1 percent of Android devices are still running on the older OS version while for the iPhones, 8 percent of the Apple mobile gadgets are still running on the older versions of the OS approximately, anything under iOS 9 inclusive. It has also been said the service will also stop on any first, second, third, or the fourth generation iPad that has not been updated. Whatsapp users need to update to iOS 9.3 to use the service of WhatsApp.
Whatsapp has emerged as the most used messaging service in the market. It has over 1.1 billion monthly active users and the numbers are only increasing with the introduction of new video calling function. Android, iOS, and Windows phone versions of the app is in direct competition with the likes of Microsoft’s Skype, Apple’s Face Time, Google’s Hangouts and Facebook Messenger among other messengers that offer the video chat feature.
We would not want to say hello to 2017 with a smartphone that is not compatible with WhatsApp. So, hurry and upgrade your device now to able to continue using this new age digital necessity.
Author Bio:
Varun Kumar Works for LatestOne.com as Content Writer. It is the e-tailer Company known for bringing the mobile accessories from all major manufacturers at best discounts. The company has a fully operational office and warehouse maintained to make timely deliveries across the nation.
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