Recently we reported on a rumor that suggested WhatsApp and Google in talks to sell the popular app to the Mountain View search giant for a cool $1 billion. Now Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp’s business development head, has come forward and said that such an acquisition isn’t happening after all.

The Google purchase rumor follows on the heels of a rumor last year that claimed Facebook was interested in buying WhatsApp, and considering the app’s success, it isn’t surprising to think that companies like Facebook and Google would be actively interested in making the purchase.

To give you some perspective on just how popular the app is, it is currently the number one app in Apple’s Store in several countries and has been downloaded more than 100 million times by Android users via Google Play.
Still, at least for the moment, WhatsApp remains independent. What do you think about the idea of Google buying the app? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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A quick check of the calendar confirms that we are well past April 1st for this Google/WhatsApp Rumour to be an April Fools! So what exactly is going on?

According to sources close to WhatsApp, Google has approached the team to sell the popular all in one messaging service to the search giant, however WhatsApp are holding out until the figure reaches the magical $1 billion mark.

Purchasing WhatsApp would give Google a pre-made tool to integrate all of their services in to a unified messaging tool, as recent rumours have suggest they are currently trying to pull off. The acquisition would also pull in a healthy and active user base from Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone in to the Google eco-system.

In addition to getting a popular service, Google would also receive a new advertisement revenue stream in purchasing WhatsApp, which is currently thought to be making around $100 million in revenue.

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WhatsApp previously cost $.99 for iOS users, via a one-time payment. Meanwhile, Android users paid nothing up front but after the first 12 months found themselves paying $1 each year as a subscription fee.

This has worked for WhatsApp for a while now, but it seems that they are now changing things up a little. For a limited time, iOS users can snag WhatsApp for free– after the first year? It’s still free. Simple as that.

Okay, why offer it at no charge? With more competition showing up in the form of Facebook Messenger, Kik and others, WhatsApp is hoping that this will attract new customers and renewed and increased interest in the platform.

Bottom-line, they’d rather give their service away for free than help their competitors win over new customers.

Interested in using an app like WhatsApp? Now is the time to do it, before the promotion ends and the service returns to its normal pricing.

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There’s word that BlackBerry Messenger will soon be ported over to Google Android and Apple iOS. The way that it works, this would mean not only access to a new BBM app on the other platforms, but also access to the trusted RIM servers and service. Why would they do this? Well, it could become a secondary revenue source. So what would be left for RIM?

While it is quite possible that BBM for Android and iOS will be offered for free, it’s also possible that RIM thinks it can charge a one-time fee or even monthly subscription fees to these non-Berry users to use the BB service by proxy. Then again, these same users can keep doing almost the same thing for free with WhatsApp and Kik.

Personally, I’m still not convinced in the value of BlackBerry Messenger when there are so many other cross platform messaging clients that are free. Couldn’t you do the same thing with Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, and any number of other IM protocols? Won’t RIM lose some of its Berry loyal by offering BBM outside the platform? They do have a secure hold on the corporate front, so allowing more devices to keep the RIM quality of service could still be rather appealing.

[via BGR]

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