WhatsApp is a pretty popular messaging app, although I wouldn’t know as the appeal over the dozen other ones available escapes me. The only thing I really know is that it’s always in the news when politicians who don’t know thing one about tech (See: Jeb Bush realizing he can take a call on his Apple Watch) talk about encryption and terror. Another thing I know is that it costs you $0.99 a year to use the darn thing.
In all honestly it’s a pretty great idea, especially if the app is good, as this brings in a yearly revenue based on amount of users; of which I assume there are millions. What’s really interesting is that reports coming from Android Police now say that WhatsApp is going free to all. Even better is that the company behind the app is saying that it will not be replacing the yearly subscription with ads.
The company will still be making money, but they will be partnering with third parties to send messages to users within the app itself. Not sure how this will work, or how intrusive it will be, but dropping the subscription will no doubt bring in a lot of new users. Since Facebook owns WhatsApp, it’s safe to say that they have a plan to make money laid out.
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