source : firstpost

WhatsApp may soon run on your desktop: report

WhatsApp will soon be available on desktop, if latest reports are to be believed.  In an interview with TechCrunch, co-founder of rival messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov said that he thinks that WhatsApp is working on a web version similar to web.telegram.org, since they tried to hire Telegram’s web developer.

Though the company hasn’t made any official announcement as yet, there could be some truth behind the rumour. AndroidWorld.nl has appeared to back up Durov’s supposition. According to the Dutch website, ‘WhatsApp Web’ has been mentioned inside the code of a recent WhatsApp update. The code also mentions logging in to a web service along with references to tracking statuses online.

The TechCrunch report also stated that Telegram, the messaging app startup created by a team headed by Pavel Durov, claims to have over 50 million monthly active users, sending 1 billion messages daily. This is after only 16 months of operation and no marketing spend. Further more, the startup has revealed that it now has 23 million daily users.

WhatsApp has 600 million active users globally, out of which 70 million users in India. Currently WhatsApp is the only instant messaging app that doesn’t offer a desktop version, unlike other rivals such as Viber, Telegram and WeChat. All these apps have a separate version for desktops and Macs as well.

If WhatsApp does launch a desktop version, it will make competition tougher for the other apps in the market, although it will be a late entrant in the field.