Whose application is WhatsApp and what country is it from - briefly?
WhatsApp is a messaging application owned by Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook Inc. It was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum in Mountain View, California, United States.
Whose application is WhatsApp and what country is it from - in detail?
WhatsApp is a popular messaging application that was created by Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2009. Initially, the app was designed for smartphones to allow users to send text messages and make voice calls over the internet. The founders of WhatsApp, Koum and Acton, were former employees of Yahoo! Inc., where they had gained valuable experience in the technology sector.
In February 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for approximately $19 billion, making it one of the largest acquisitions in the tech industry at that time. Despite being owned by a U.S.-based company, WhatsApp's origin and development can be traced back to Silicon Valley, California, where Koum and Acton established their startup.
The app has since grown exponentially, with over 2 billion users worldwide as of 2021. It supports various features such as group chats, voice and video calls, sharing of multimedia content, and end-to-end encryption for secure communication. WhatsApp's success is attributed to its user-friendly interface, cross-platform compatibility, and the ability to provide free messaging services over data connections, which has made it a preferred choice for users across different regions globally.
In conclusion, WhatsApp was created by Jan Koum and Brian Acton in Silicon Valley, California, and is now owned by Facebook Inc., based in Menlo Park, California.