Boosting the adoption of messaging service WhatsApp in the United States and some other markets is proving difficult, co-founder Brian Acton said, but the company will still create substantial revenue for prospective parent Facebook Inc .<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowth in the United States is a challenge for us,\u201d Acton said on Wednesday after a talk at StartX, an incubator for young companies affiliated with Stanford University.<\/p>\n
He also cited Japan and Taiwan as countries where \u201cwe could have been more successful with a little bit more effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Acton otherwise struck an upbeat tone in his first public comments since Facebook said earlier this year it would acquire fast-growing WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock.<\/p>\n
Acton noted what he saw as WhatsApp\u2019s value, saying he believed it would send 1 billion new users to the social network, even as WhatsApp services remain apart from Facebook\u2019s.<\/p>\n
He described the relationship between the two companies as \u201cseparate but equal,\u201d saying co-mingling the services would create \u201crisk and peril.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t look at it from the experience of, \u2018We\u2019re going to get swallowed by the Borg,\u2019\u201d he said, referring to a group in the show \u201cStar Trek\u201d who assimilate other species.<\/p>\n
Downplaying concerns that Facebook could learn data about WhatsApp users, Acton said WhatsApp had little valuable information to share.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have much beyond a phone number to work with,\u201d he said, adding the company’s staff didn’t trawl through user messages. Talking to reporters later, he said all messages were anyway encrypted.<\/p>\n
Regulators greenlight Facebook-WhatsApp deal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n