WhatsApp is now completely free. You now pay no purchase costs more and no subscriptions, if it is to founder Jan Koum. But wait, you had to pay for WhatsApp? A brief history of the non-transparent pay structure of WhatsApp.
“WhatsApp is now totally free,” said founder Jan Koum today at a conference in Germany . “Open communication is very important, it should not be impossible due to a faltering credit card.”
What was it again?
For some people the decisions will come as a pleasant surprise, but hit many more users confused by the promise. Paying for WhatsApp? Should it then
It is striking that no one really knows who is paying now for WhatsApp and who does not? – Especially when you consider that the service by nearly a billion people are actively used (!). There are roughly three groups WhatsApp users:
1: Users who have never paid for WhatsApp
2: Users who WhatsApp ever bought for € 0.79 or € 0.89
3: Users who pay € 0.89 for each year WhatsApp
Confusing
How many users fall into which group is then totally unknown. It used WhatsApp still free, only Android users were later presented with a bill, and occasionally got users after years suddenly presented with a bill. Which is always uncertain to linger the company, but it did not like users to remain loyal to the service.
Scams
WhatsApp also was for years the target of scammers and internethoaxes. Regularly posts went viral announcing that WhatsApp ‘real money now going to ask,’ or appeared adware that occurs as a WhatsApp message.
Enigmatic earnings
WhatsApp has always had a shadowy earnings
The revenue of WhatsApp has always been a mystery. Actually crazy when you consider that one of the most popular apps of all time. Many apps (like Facebook), the business model is clear – not always desirable, but known in any case. Facebook and Google make their money by using personal information to sell advertisements. Many games use the ‘freemium’ model, so you can play for free in principle, but must draw extras your wallet. Other apps earn some money by placing ads on the screen.
That is not the case with WhatsApp.
No ads, no in-app purchases
The service displays no ads and deserves therefore bring any money there. Also, there are no in-app purchases that can be earned. For that reason, WhatsApp was always viewed with suspicion, because the logical conclusion was that WhatsApp or had to use personal information to get money. But who could be sold then …?
Acquisition by Facebook
Those fears were not allayed when WhatsApp in February 2014 was acquired by Facebook for the astronomical sum of 16 billion dollars. Critics say that was the end of WhatsApp, because Facebook would all your chats very like to read.
Even after the Facebook acquisition, the earnings remained unknown
The unknown earnings continued to haunt WhatsApp, especially after the Facebook acquisition. At that time nearly 500 million users were using the chat service, and we have shared our deepest secrets and we liked them very personal conversations. That which would now end up on Facebook, was for many people enough reason to switch to services that do your privacy respected on such Telegram.
In practice, the long-awaited exodus continued, and grew WhatsApp only but by. Users Telegram often give a chance came from a rude awakening because of the lack of contacts to talk to – eventually an important part of a chat app
.
No info as earnings
Soon after the acquisition became clear that WhatsApp did not intend to use personal information. That said, not only the unknown Jan Koum, but Mark Zuckerberg himself. Indeed, WhatsApp stores all messages centrally, and later performed even end-to-end encryption to get calls at all had not read it.
It turned Facebook not to make personal data
If Facebook were not doing the personal data, then what is? A company that is acquired for such a huge sum must pay for themselves in one way or another, but how? Even the otherwise wealthy Facebook can not be missed just as much money.
WhatsApp in the future
During the conference, in which the price reduction was announced Koum also explained how WhatsApp or money to start earning. The creators are working on a system that businesses can use to get in touch with customers. That is already being used by some companies, but that goes through unofficial channels and can any time be blocked by WhatsApp.
For now, it still remains as a ‘seeing is believing’. There has been in the short history already enough confusion about the business model, and we are not yet convinced that a customer service model is very successful
But one thing is certain. No one will soon pay even the euro to chat . Whether that is a good thing, is another question.
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