IANS | Posted on Apr 19, 2013 at 08:01am IST

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.

Idea Cellular has once again proved that it is bullish when it comes to launching 3G, smartphones and that too below Rs 8,000 price tag. The company on Thursday launched one more smartphone Aurus 2 in the same category at Rs 6,490

Before this Idea had launched five 3G smartphones-Idea Zeal, Idea Ivory, Idea Aurus, ID 918 and Idea Blade- all in sub-Rs 8,000 category. The company claimed good response from these launches. Idea said that it has already sold over 300,000 3G smartphones over the last one year.

The dual-SIM Aurus 2 runs on Android 4.1 OS dual-SIM phone and powered with a 1 GHz processor and offers video-calling facility.

It comes with a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen with superior display that supports 320 x 480 pixel resolution.  The device boasts of high internal memory of 4GB ROM along with 512 MB RAM. The smartphone sports a 3.2 megapixel camera with digital zoom along with a front facing VGA camera and supports video calling.

The company said that with the new 3G smartphone it is wooing existing 2G users who wish to upgrade to 3G in semi-urban and rural markets, across the country.

Idea Aurus 2 is a delight for those who wish to stay connected and active on their social network as it offers easy access to Gmail and other basic social networking activities on this device. Users can enjoy thousands of applications supported on the latest Android technology, Jelly Bean. 

Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer – Idea Cellular, said, “Idea focuses on bringing the best of 3G technology at affordable price to our subscribers, thereby maintaining an equilibrium between both cost and technology”

Aurus 2 offers entertainment, e-mail connectivity, social networking, and browsing of smart apps and widgets.

Gionee has announced the launch of its new smartphone - Gionee P1 - which features a 3.5-inch display. The P1 is powered by a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor and comes with a 2 megapixel camera. It also has a front VGA camera.

This dual SIM phone has a 1500 mAh battery. The P1 comes has an internal storage space of 512MB; its memory can be expanded up to 32GB. The Gionee P1 will be available in only black colour. It runs Android 2.3 OS and comes with 256MB RAM.

As part of the inaugural offer, the P1 will come packed with a 4 GB SD card, 2 phone cases and a screen protection film. The phone is priced at Rs 4,999.

IBNLive.com | Posted on Apr 17, 2013 at 11:33am IST