Whatsapp to remain Free in India

[Onemufc]

WhatsApp will continue to offer its service for free to users in developing countries like India. Vice-president for business development Neeraj Arora stated that low debit and credit card penetration was the main reason for not collecting the $1 annual fee the service charges users in North America and Europe.

Speaking at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Arora reiterated that monetization for the service would come from user subscriptions, and not advertisements.

"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."

Source:- http://www.androidcentral.com/whatsapp-remain-free-developing-countries-india

 

[AMG]

We believe in the subscription model and not in advertising as people do not like to have ads as they converse."
WhatsApp will continue to offer its service for free to users in developing countries like India. Vice-president for business development Neeraj Arora stated that low debit and credit card penetration was the main reason for not collecting the $1 annual fee.


Didnt he just contradict himself? How is he going to achieve that?

 

[ayanavish]

May be IAPs in the form of stickies, emojies, themes, etc or something similar

 

[i_rock098]

To be honest I have never heard of anyone ever paying to use whatsapp here, the service would auto extend for everyone. So what difference would this make.

 

[swatkats]

Even i have never seen anyone paying for service, most of my friends are suggesting to delete the account and create account after 3 days so that it gets automatically renewed for 1 more year.
Whatsapp is at least loosing Rs 10-15 Crores/month in India. I seriously have no clue what they are trying to do, i know they're sitting on a huge pile of money from FB.

 

[ssslayer]

This is the story with most of the VC fueled businesses in India.

 

[blr_p]

Even i have never seen anyone paying for service, most of my friends are suggesting to delete the account and create account after 3 days so that it gets automatically renewed for 1 more year.

You mean 3 days after the first year is up ?

 

[swatkats]

You mean 3 days after the first year is up ?

Before 12th month. Anyways its FREE now officially.

 

[blr_p]

What would have happened after 12 month ?

 

[manu1991]

If they wanted money they could have tied up with Airtel, Vodafone etc. where you would get 1$ deducted from your prepaid balance and that would pay for 1 year of service. I think the real reason is they fear people might start using alternatives like Hike etc.

 

[Superbad]

hike? heard of telegram?

anyways whatsapp isnt an exclusive messaging app anymore.

incase if they do implement the payment option, people will move to to other alternatives.

 

[avi]

Whatsapp is at least loosing Rs 10-15 Crores/month in India.

That figure seems way too less

 

[Aercy]

What are you guys talking about, this was the 2nd year that I paid and have paid for one of my friend as wel!!!

 

[chetansha]

What are you guys talking about, this was the 2nd year that I paid and have paid for one of my friend as wel!!!

Reminds me of a quote "there's a sucker born every minute"

 

[swatkats]

That figure seems way too less

Well that's the minimum revenue amount i can think of.

 

[Aercy]

Reminds me of a quote "there's a sucker born every minute"

I wish I could care about money

 

[chetansha]

I wish I could care about money

If you dont care then why crib.

 

[Sanav3]

I guess its paid for iOS?

 

[abracadabra]

^only initially guessing some 3years back! After that they made it free in the app store