WhatsApp is to launch voice calls in Q2, 2014. The move was revealed today by CEO and co-founder Jan Koum at Mobile World Congress. He told delegates: “I think we have the best voice product, with the least bandwidth and we optimise the hell out of it. We will apply our same values to voice, focus on simplicity and make sure the quality is there. I can’t wait to get on a plane and back and get it done.” The service will roll out to Android and iOS users first, with Windows Phone and BlackBerry to follow.
Asked for a reaction to the announcement, Mats Granryd, president and CEO of Swedish mobile operator, Tele2, said he welcomed the move. “This is exactly what we have been planning for,” he said. “Data is going to be free. We welcome the innovators because they populate the networks.”
Koum opened his presentation with a quip, saying: “I don’t know if you heard, last week we got a new Facebook friend,” before outlining the values on which his company has been built. “It had to be simple to use, intuitive, fast, and always work; we wanted it to connect people,” he said. “It was important to build a product not cluttered by gimmicks or promotions. It was part of our mission to build something that would connect people, and that’s it. We did not want to do much else.” 
Whether WhatsApp will be allowed to continue in the same vein after the Facebook acquisition has been the subject of much debate ever since the deal was announced, but Koum was at pains to point out that nothing will change. He said: “We promise not to change that. We have built something that connects people and enables them to stay in touch; an uncluttered, simple user experience…The partnership me and Mark will have could not have been done without us agreeing on the vision for the product, and for it to be successful, it really needs to stay independent and have the autonomy we have. There are no planned changes, we will continue to execute on our goals and our vision even after the acquisition closes. We can only get the product to 1bn and 2bn users if we continue on the path we started on.”
Koum also paid tribute to the app’s users, which he said currently number 465m monthly and 330m daily. Noting that the company has never done any marketing or formal user acquisition, he said: “Every singe one of our users has joined Whatsapp because their friends begged them to, so than you to every one of you for getting your friends to use our product. We couldn’t do it without you.”
