- WhatsApp: a billion users soon and still not profitable!
The news came this morning: WhatsApp cancels its $1 annual subscription with the benefit of a free universal offer. To justify this reversal, the firm explains that this paying economic model has had major difficulties in penetrating certain markets, in this case emerging markets. Indeed, the low availability and use of credit cards does not facilitate online transactions.
“Naturally, people may wonder how we plan to keep Whatsapp up and running without a subscription, and whether today’s announcement means we’ll be serving third-party ads. The answer is no. Starting this year, we’ll be testing tools that allow you to communicate with companies and organizations that interest you…”
We remember that Facebook, the owner of the Whatsapp application, tried a similar strategy with Messenger before. This time it’s the app used by nearly a billion people around the world. In countries like India where WhatsApp has become popular excellent communication toolsThere is no doubt that this announcement will be met with great enthusiasm.
