 "Six advantages of using WhatsApp new video call")
WhatsApp finally rolled out its video calling feature on Monday though slightly late to the party dominated by Facebook's own Messenger, Google's Duo, Skype, and Viber. But with its massive user base of more than one billion, Facebook's backing and other features similar to Snapchat like stories, animations, filters and graphics it can make up for the lost time.
WhatsApp has more than 160 million users in India and they don't have to download other apps to make video calls anymore.
WhatsApp has even said it has optimised the feature to handle the low-bandwidth internet connectivity and cheap phones used in most parts of India.
Since WhatsApp chat is based on the phonebook contacts you don't have to deal with annoying call requests from anonymous people.
The video call is end-to-end encrypted which means other than the sender and receiver no one can access it.
WhatsApp has even said it has optimised the feature to handle the low-bandwidth internet connectivity and cheap phones used in most parts of India.
Since WhatsApp chat is based on the phonebook contacts you don't have to deal with annoying call requests from anonymous people.
The video call is end-to-end encrypted which means other than the sender and receiver no one can access it.
Unlike Apple's FaceTime it works on both Android and iPhone mobiles. Whatsapp's claims that video calling feature would work even on slower networks, which is a major issue in India with low internet penetration.
“Video calling is one of the most requested features from people in India. We’re proud to have the opportunity to launch this feature in India, where we now have 160 million users, and we look forward to seeing people use WhatsApp to talk to their friends and loved ones face to face,” said Jan Koum, CEO and co-founder of WhatsApp, in a statement.
In an interview with The Hindu Neeraj Arora, Head of Business, WhatsApp, talked about the plan to monetise the chat platform. He said, "we are thinking about how users can connect to businesses that they care about and at the same time, we make some money. For example, an airline or a bank may want to communicate with you and if you choose to do so, we can create that experience." Although this is a move to generate a revenue model from the messaging service Facebook bought for whopping $19 billion, the company may be looking to turn it like the Chinese cross-platform instant messaging service WeChat where the user can along with text, video and audio call features, make payments, airline ticket bookings, and appointment with doctors.