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Updated Feb. 24, 2014 9:40 a.m. ET
WhatsApp Inc., the mobile messaging service that agreed to be acquired last week by Facebook Inc. FB +1.81% Facebook Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq $69.83 +1.24 +1.81% Feb. 24, 2014 9:48 am Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.67M P/E Ratio 113.16 Market Cap $174.89 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,242,230 02/24/14 WhatsApp CEO: Aiming for Voice... 02/24/14 Telecoms Step Up Fight Over Ne... 02/23/14 Gordon Crovitz: A WhatsApp Mes... More quote details and news » FB in 
Your Value Your Change Short position for $19 billion, said Monday that it would offer voice calling as early as April, allowing free phone calls among WhatsApp's 465 million users.
Facebook and WhatsApp applications' icons displayed on a smartphone. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Jan Koum, the co-founder and chief executive of WhatsApp, also said during a speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that he is hoping to grow the service to one or two billion users.
Mr. Koum said that the WhatsApp voice product would "focus on simplicity" as it has with its text-based messaging service.
He said that WhatsApp would first release a version of the voice service for Apple Inc. AAPL +0.43% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $527.49 +2.24 +0.43% Feb. 24, 2014 9:48 am Volume (Delayed 15m) : 614,254 P/E Ratio 12.90 Market Cap $468.52 Billion Dividend Yield 2.33% Rev. per Employee $2,163,820 02/23/14 Microsoft Broadens Number of M... 02/22/14 Apple Issues Patch for Securit... 02/22/14 Apple, Samsung Fail to Settle ... More quote details and news » AAPL in Your Value Your Change Short position 's iPhone and Google Inc. GOOG +0.49% Google Inc. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq $1209.68 +5.89 +0.49% Feb. 24, 2014 9:47 am Volume (Delayed 15m) : 67,834 P/E Ratio 33.06 Market Cap $405.98 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,110,730 02/23/14 Gordon Crovitz: A WhatsApp Mes... 02/23/14 Google Readying Android Smartw... 02/23/14 Microsoft Broadens Number of M... More quote details and news » GOOG in Your Value Your Change Short position 's Android platforms, followed by services for Microsoft Corp. MSFT -0.34% Microsoft Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq $37.85 -0.13 -0.34% Feb. 24, 2014 9:48 am Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1.41M P/E Ratio 13.85 Market Cap $315.26 Billion Dividend Yield 2.96% Rev. per Employee $841,040 02/24/14 Nokia Unveils Its First Androi... 02/24/14 Telecoms Step Up Fight Over Ne... 02/23/14 Microsoft Broadens Number of M... More quote details and news » MSFT in Your Value Your Change Short position 's Windows Phone, as well as some phones by BlackBerry Ltd. BB.T +4.23% BlackBerry Ltd. Canada: Toronto $10.60 +0.43 +4.23% Feb. 24, 2014 9:33 am Volume : 1.81M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $5.35 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $684,796 02/24/14 Canada Stocks to Watch: BlackB... 02/24/14 BlackBerry Messenger Coming to... 02/21/14 Morning Links: A Hope and a Pr... More quote details and news » BB.T in Your Value Your Change Short position and Nokia Corp. NOK +1.07% Nokia Corp. ADS U.S.: NYSE $7.54 +0.08 +1.07% Feb. 24, 2014 9:48 am Volume (Delayed 15m) : 461,481 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $27.85 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $172,859 More quote details and news » NOK in Your Value Your Change Short position
"We want to continue to have that minimalistic approach to the product," he said. "We at WhatsApp want to get out of the way and let people communicate."
Mr. Koum added that the voice product would "use the least amount of bandwidth, and we optimize the hell out of it."
With its move into voice calls, WhatsApp will now compete more directly with Microsoft's Skype service, which began as a platform for computers but also offers messaging and voice calls over mobile phones.
Speaking about the Facebook acquisition announcement earlier this month, Mr. Koum said that the product wouldn't change, stressing that WhatsApp would remain independent. He cited Instagram's example, after the acquisition of the photo-sharing service by Facebook.
Mr. Koum said that WhatsApp was likely valuable to Facebook because "we both want to make the world more connected," though Mr. Koum stressed that WhatsApp wanted to know "as little as possible" about its users, including details such as a user's name.
"There are no plans to change anything that we do with the product today," he said, using words like "minimalistic," "utilitarian" and "uncluttered" to describe his philosophy.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at jonathan.cheng@wsj.com
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