Users of WhatsApp no longer receive their smartphones notice that reminds them to pay the subscription to continue using the instant messaging application.
This week, to the delight of many users, WhatsApp announced that its service will be free.
Jan Koum, WhatsApp president, currently owned by Facebook, confirmed that the platform will stop charging a dollar as a subscription.
“For years we have asked people to pay for using Whatsapp after their first year. As we have grown, we found that this method has not worked well. Many users Whatsapp not have credit cards or debit worry to lose access to their families and friends after the first year, “he said.
Once you remove the annual use fee, the company will not get any income from the instant messaging application.
The service has no advertising, mechanism other free sites such as Facebook, used as a business model.
So how will make money?
No ads
For a while, Jan Koum had a note on his desk that read: “No ads, no games, no gimmicks”
And so thinks. Whatsapp continue as strongly left clear that will not open the door yet.
“The answer to whether third-party advertising is … not be introduced” the company said Monday in a statement.
An opposite strategy to the one followed in Instagram, also bought by Facebook in 2012.
Advertising has been the only source of income for an application used by 400 million people.
New tools
The strategy to make money Whatsapp are professional services.
“From this year will test tools They allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations. This means contact your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent or with an airline for flight delays, “the company said.
It would be a kind of surcharge customer where Whatsapp large companies pay to communicate and record the calls and complaints from customers.
In this way, Whatsapp become a digital platform as it has already done Facebook Messenger, the other messaging application social network with 800 million users.
Whatsapp has 990 million users worldwide, so having a communication service to companies will surely affect the entire software market Care customer, as well as models based on telephone calls to make claims.
More common in Asia
So far no dates have not reported details about that product offer to companies in Asia but this strategy has been a success.
Messaging Applications from countries such as China or South Korea have been monetized by becoming electronic trading platforms with countless services and products.
The clearest is surely WeChat, founded in 2011 within the Internet giant Tencent and has 650 million users.
In the Today is not only an instant messaging application both between individuals and large organizations with users. It also includes a Facebook-like social “wall” where all kinds of content being shared.
the possibility of allowing it to perform many daily activities adds. For example, call a cab, arrange an appointment or pay a fine.
The phenomenon is also advancing in the US and other countries.
Uber reported last month that will allow users order a car through Facebook Messenger, a service similar to WeChat messages.
Meanwhile, Google is developing a new chat application that uses artificial intelligence.
The application already incorporates snapchat news, while the startup Slack Technologies has pioneered the chat platform as a hub of communication and collaboration in the workplace.
According to analysts, messaging applications, to be easy to use and have a large number of users who spend a lot of time, are ideal centers to develop other services.
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