WhatsApp chief reveals plans for voice function

What's missing from WhatsApp? According to chief executive Jan Koum, it's a voice function, but the company plans to remedy that in the second quarter of the year.

Speaking at Mobile World Congress today, Mr Koum said the instant messaging service, which Facebook agreed last week to buy for $19 billion, would add voice capability to its iPhone and Android users first, before rolling it out to users on Windows and Blackberry.

“We want to make sure people always have the ability to stay in touch and call their friends, families and loved ones and do it easily and affordably,” Mr Koum said. “We think we have the best product out there, using the least amount of bandwidth and we optimise the hell out of it.”

WhatsApp hit the headlines last week after Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook would acquire the popular application, which currently has around 450 million users. The deal was a mixture of cash and stock, and while many questioned the valuation of the deal, others agreed that it fit with Facebook's strategy of building a strong mobile offering.

Mr Zuckerberg, who will deliver a keyote speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later today, said he expects WhatsApp to hit one billion users. The service is currently adding around one million users a day, although it has strong competition in Asia, where WeChat and Line are also popular.