WhatsApp reaches a new milestone as number of users climb to 900 million. Ironically, the messaging app company only has 50 engineers working for them.
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum recently announced that the number of users registered in their database has reached 900 million. This milestone effectively makes Facebook owner of three of the most popular apps online: Facebook, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. According to Wired, Facebook already has 1.5 billion users followed by WhatsApp with 900 million and Messenger with over 700 million. What makes it even more remarkable is the fact that WhatsApp's success is not a product of the app piggybacking on its mother company's huge online follower base but on its own efforts as a tech company.
Wired has outlined how WhatsApp has managed to keep a small team of engineers running the show for almost a billion users. Upon acquisition by Facebook, the number of engineers working for the messaging startup was only 35. But at the time, the number of WhatsApp users has already grown to 450 million. That number has since doubled and the company currently employs 50 people working day and night to run the app smoothly.
In an event in San Jose, Califrornia, software engineer Jamshid Mahvadi discussed how his company is able to function properly with a small unit compared to the enormous number of users they have that rely on them to use WhatsApp without any hitches. He said part of their system is the use of "Erlang" which is a programming language that allows engineers to juggle a massive number of communications in less time plus gives them the flexibility to code on the fly.
Meanwhile, Neurogadget reports that WhatsApp just announced a new version for the Windows Phone which could mean more users of the instant messaging app.
