Whatsapp has completely taken over our lives and made it much easier to stay connected!
Whatsapp, the world’s most favourite messaging service, has removed its annual subscription fee with the promise that it won’t have ads in its app as well. Earlier, when you register for Whatsapp, you get a message saying that it’s free for a whole year and after that you have to pay a small amount every year (it’s actually nothing for an app that we use and love so much!). Now, never having completed the one year mark with Whatsapp because I keep changing phones, I’ve never paid for the service before. For the users who have paid or have their deadline nearing, however, this should come as good news. According to their official blog post they decided that the chargeable approach has not set in well with users and hence they have decided to do away with it. They also promise not to have any third-party ads that will serve as a hindrance to its users. Imagine having an ad popping up every few minutes! Smart move, Whatsapp.
So how do they plan on gathering revenue? In a move that I would say is brilliant, Whatsapp now aims at corporates and businesses that would serve some purpose to us. For example, according to their blog, they will target banks and airlines to help them convey information more effectively to us. Want to know if your flight is delayed? Whatsapp the airline and ask them! Want to know about an unauthorised transaction? Whatsapp the bank and find out! I guess if this becomes a success (which I’m hoping it would), it would render chat options on websites obsolete and give rise to many ‘Whatsapp Customer Services’ jobs that would involve texting all day! Now isn’t that great?
