WhatsApp reaches 700 million active monthly users

WhatsApp, an internet based messaging service, has just announced that over 700 million users actively use its service each month. This makes the company the most popular mobile messaging service around the world, and is even more popular than Facebook Messenger. This surge in popularity comes as WhatsApp continues to dominate the Indian messaging market.

Back in August, WhatsApp claimed 600 million active users and has gained around 300 million users over the past year. The mobile messaging service was acquired by Facebook for $22 billion last year, but the social networking giant has seen losses on its investment so far, as WhatsApp’s 99-cent subscription model does not generate a large amount of revenue. WhatsApp saw losses of approximately $230 million in the first half of last year and generated revenue of only $15 million.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, expects that WhatApps will end up contributing to Facebook’s profits, eventually. However, he does not expect this to happen until the app’s regular user base reaches the one billion mark. Based on this recent rate of growth, WhatApp could reach this milestone before the end of 2015.

WhatsApp still has plenty of room for growth in markets where it currently isn’t a major player, such as the US or China. However, temping customers away from their current services may prove more difficult.

Are you sold on WhatsApp or are you using one of its competitors?