WhatsApp has been deemed by many to be one of the most popular messenger services in the market (not to mention coming into the limelight all the more after its acquisition by Facebook), and hence it is rather comforting to take note that the $1 annual fee will not be charged in countries that are still developing – and this includes the world’s second most populous country, which is India. Neeraj Arora, the Vice President for business development of WhatsApp, mentioned that the monetization route would hail from subscriptions and not adverts.
“Monetization is on the cards. It will happen over the next few years. We believe in the subscription model and not in advertising as people do not like to have ads as they converse,” he said.
Of course, he also confirmed that the service will remain free in other developing countries. I guess that $1 will still go some way in certain countries, although one might wonder just how much more the company would make if this fee were to be charged.
At this point in time, WhatsApp does have over 600 million monthly users around the world. Do you still look back fondly at the time when WhatsApp proved to be free? How was your reaction upon hearing that you will be charged $1 each year?
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