Google is reportedly in serious negotiations with the mobile messaging service WhatsApp for a possible $1 billion acquisition. WhatsApp is apparently 'playing hardball' and is looking for an acquisition price that is close to $1 billion, Digital Trends reports.
Getting WhatsApp into its fold will enable the search giant to unify all its disparate messaging services such as Google Voice, Google Hangouts, Google Talk and more under one roof which will hopefully accelerate its growth in the communication segment that is currently being undercut by rival Facebook.
The negotiation has been going on for nearly four or five weeks now and according to rumors, Google is apparently developing a project known as Babble which would offer a cross-platform communications between its services, the report says.
Google had reportedly previously held talks with WhatsApp at the same time Facebook was also considering acquiring the application.
WhatsApp has been immensely successful from the start because its messaging service liberates customers from text messaging plans and offers a multi-platform free text messaging service on their phone of choice which includes; Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Apple's iOS platforms.
However, a major drawback of the service is that it works only on mobile phones, meaning you cannot log into WhatsApp on your tablet or any other device. It's expected that if Google does acquires the app, this limitation will be removed and then it will be integrated with users' Gmail addresses.
