NEW DELHI: WhatsApp free voice calling in India was a reaction following Hike Messenger’s announcement in this regard. Otherwise there was no talk about its launch so far
This is an exciting time for smartphone users across the country. The mobile messaging app WhatsApp that is a massive hit across the world is also a runaway success in India. While globally it has more than 700 million active users now, in India its user base has gone up by more than 100 million
This is a huge number and the only other network that has higher number to boast is none other than its own sister concern Facebook with more than 1.2 billion users.
Despite many people claiming that people’s interest is going to get lower and lower in both Facebook and WhatsApp seems to have been proven wrong completely with the two twin companies expanding at a massive base.
whatsappWith Free voice calling being added to WhatsApp you can certainly expect another massive expansion of the app at least in India. But the announcement seems to have been hastened due to the fact that another Indian messaging app Hike messenger had announced to make this available.
Hike has already made it available to its around 35 million users in India and elsewhere and this is the reason that WhatsApp has been forced to make the announcement so hastily. So we must be thankful to Kevin Mittal for forcing the global messaging giant to act this fast.
There is no denying the fact that Hike is very small. To be true there is no competition between WhatsApp and Hike. While Whatsapp is a behemoth and market leader, right now Hike is nobody whether in the Indian market or anywhere else.
Nonetheless given the fast paced and explosive growths of our times, things may change unbelievably fast. By the way who thought just two years ago that WhatsApp will become such a huge success and many were incredulous when Facebook doled out such a huge amount of money for acquiring it.
Everyone is wondering as to how to get the invite? But if you want the WhatsApp voice calling service free right now, you need to get an invite first as it is available on invite-only basis now. This means that you need to get a call through WhatsApp from someone who already has it. Right now only Android users are getting the invite. To be true Hike’s messenger too is in beta and has been launched only on Android. Others like ioS and BlackBerry users need to wait till March to get it. Right now the software update is not available through Google Play Store, but can be downloaded as an APK file via the official WhatsApp website section for Android.
Ask your friends if they have the invite. If they have, ask them to call you from that account. If you get the invite some way or the other, you will find an icon for it nestled amidst the Chats and Contacts tabs. But for some, trying to dial up a contact using the free VoIP calling option is said to only bring up a list of apps through which the call can be placed, including Google’s stock dial-pad. It is exiting time for messaging apps fans in India.
