Twitter Parallels Facebook’s WhatsApp Buy With Acquisition Of ZipDial

After open criticism for the company's slow development, Twitter aims to put itself back on the map with the acquisition of ZipDial – a service provided through mobile devices to different regions around the world without ready access to data networks. In October, Twitter shared that 80% of their 284 million users were accessing the platform from mobile devices, they hope to capitolize on that trend when the projected billions of users come online for the first time over the next few years. 

ZipDial, based in Bangladore, India, has been a strategic business partner of Twitter's for the last two years. The service allows a toll-free call to be made to a specific number that will go unanswered but will then begin generating targeted promotional material to the user who made the phone call. 

Christian Oestlien, VP of Product for Twitter addressed the benefits of the aqcuisition in an official blog post on January 20th  saying " For many, their first online experience will be on a mobile device – but the cost of data may prevent them from experiencing the true power of the Internet. Twitter, in partnership with ZipDial, can make great content more accessible to everyone."

Oestlien did not disclose the terms of the acquisition (which has been estimated to be in the range of $30 million) but rather shared what this investment meant to Twitter and its users, "By coming together with ZipDial, we’ll help more people around the world enjoy great and relevant Twitter experiences on their mobile phones. This acquisition significantly increases our investment in India, one of the countries where we’re seeing great growth, and also brings us a new engineering office in Bangalore."