WhatsApp says it has more users than Twitter

Los Angeles: Messaging app WhatsApp now has more users than Twitter, company founder and CEO Jan Koum said at the AllThingsD Dive Into Mobile conference in New York. Declining to cite a specific figure, Koum said WhatsApp has more than 200 million monthly active users who generate an average of 8 billion inbound messages and 12 billion outbound messages per day. Twitter has 200 million monthly active users. The WhatsApp Messenger, which is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Nokia, allows users to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. After providing the service for free since its founding in 2009, WhatsApp is gradually phasing in an annual fee of 99 cents. Koum denied rumours that he is in talks to sell WhatsApp to Google. "Our goal is to build a sustainable, independent company. We want to build a business," he said at the Dive Into Mobile Conference, where he also ruled-out abandoning WhatsApp`s policy against running ads. "Mobile and messaging is the only thing we do," Koum said, rejecting the notion of turning WhatsApp into a broader platform that would include games, advertising and other features. IANS