It is barely a week, since Zuckerberg casually announced that he had purchased WhatsApp and its 50 employees for US$19 billion. It makes for a great rags-to-riches story.

What has caught my eye over the past few days are some of the side issues, which reveal why 19 billion is the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

First, it emerges that Google was also after WhatsApp. There are reports that it had offered a ‘mere’ US$10 billion. Some have indicated that Mr G had even tried to outbid FaceBook.

Second, it is now apparent that WhatsApp is going to move into the free voice call market. It intends to challenge the rising dominance of the Israeli company Viber. That is likely to ensure an enormous surge in revenue.

Third, and following on the Israeli theme, I was intrigued to see how the deal could impact on the local market. This week, as over 100 Israeli companies head off to the world’s largest telecom event in Barcelona, the question being asked is can a start up from the Holy Land become the next WhatsApp?

The Mail Ru Group may appear to be Russian-based, but it is supported by an enormous amount of Israeli know-how. Back in 2010, it became the owner of former ICQ, one of the pioneers of chat technology. And it has just announced yet another investment in Israel, this time throwing US$2 million at Magisto, an automated mobile video editing app.

Magisto was only set up in 2009. Its technology “automatically generates videos based on raw footage user shot with the cell phone camera.  According to the company report, they now registering two million new users per month and has 20 million registered users.” That number is growing exponentially. I suspect that Magisto will be worth more than a few billion very rapidly.