Google readying WhatsApp rival, India to be test bed

      GOOGLE is planning to launch its own mobile messaging app which the search giant is likely to test in India and other emerging markets. It is in the early stages of development and is likely to be launched in 2015.   Singhal, who is a product management director for Hangouts, Photos, Google+ core & Platform, is also touring other countries in Asia Pacific to understand local ecosystems better. India is one of the fastest-growing markets for instant messaging applications. Of the 600 million WhatsApp users, 65 million are in India. Similarly, Line has over 18 million registered users, Viber is targeting 30 million users by the year end and homegrown messenger Hike claims over 35 million registered users. WeChat doesn't share country-specific data but globally, it has over 438 million monthly active users. Mobile connections in India will grow to 815 million in 2014, up 8% from last year, according to Gartner which counted the growing appetite for over the top voice services (data-based) as one of the 'biggest challenges' faced by Indian mobile operators.