We have been familiar with WhatsApp as an instant messaging app for smartphones, which operates under a subscription business model. It is a proprietary, cross-platform app that gives users the ability to select feature phones to use the Internet for communication purposes.
In addition to text messaging, WhatsApp can be used to send images, video and audio media messages. A year and a half ago Facebook (News - Alert) acquired WhatsApp and at the beginning of the year, WhatsApp was the most globally popular messaging app with more than 600 million active users; today that number surpasses the billion mark.
Toward the end of last year, WhatsApp was preparing to offer voice calling for the first time. The feeling at that time was that we already have Voice over IP (VoIP) apps available on the market, so why offer this service?
Needless to say this VoIP service has already caused some tension. It seems that a couple of telecom carriers are blocking the usage of WhatsApp’s voice calling feature in certain countries. Rather than sit back and see what will happen, WhatsApp is taking the next step.
There is no arguing that we live in a generation that has to be connected all the time, everywhere. Human nature is also such that people never seem to be content with what they have and will always crave more. With this in mind, WhatsApp has been working on delivering video calling before the end of the year, offering people yet another way to share face time.
In fact, there are already rumors that the WhatsApp video calling feature will be out before the end of this year’s second quarter. We have already seen that Skype (News - Alert) comes with some of the best video and sound codecs in the industry which guarantee HD-quality sound and pictures when making a free video call on Skype.
WhatsApp is poised to introduce the latest video codecs in its platform designed to ensure that the quality of pictures users get is unmatched. In addition, something that is expected to accompany the video-calling feature is the ability to offer exceptional quality of sound even in poor networks. The ability to offer high quality pictures during video calls in low bandwidth networks is something that appears to be lacking in Skype.
As VoIP continues to mature and evolve, the global VoIP services market will also grow. In fact, according to Future Market Insights, we can expect to see this market triple in size over the next five years. Free, flexible and easy to use video conferencing is being used for chatting with family members, as well as for connecting with business associates.
Currently, Skype is considered to be the leader in video conferencing, which is backed by Microsoft (News - Alert), so it is strong in the business community. A lot of the video conferencing mentioned above has taken place on Skype, The obvious question that this raises is whether WhatsApp will be in a head to head fight against Skype. Is WhatsApp once more raising the stakes in what appears to be the ongoing VoIP wars?
So does this mean that the addition of a WhatsApp video calling feature will cause problems for Skype? It will be interesting to see how WhatsApp and Skype will fare, in this highly competitive free video calling industry and if this spurs other companies to follow suit.