Almost 1/7 of the world’s population now relies on WhatsApp as a messenger. Since its introduction in 2010, the service has always charged approximately $1 a year subscription charge after the first year of use. Not much considering how often we use it, is it?
However, that’s all about to change. The company has just announced on their blog that they will no longer charge subscription fees, due to the simple reason that they have noticed some of their users don’t have credit or debit cards in order to pay the required annual amount. WhatsApp have acknowledged this and don’t wish their users to suffer in regards to losing communication with those closest to them.
The company have recognized that their users may be worried as to how they intend to keep the service running without paid subscriptions, and whether or not they’ll start introducing third-party advertising in order to pay for the service. WhatsApp say no. Apparently, their plan is to test certain tools that allow users to communicate with businesses and organizations that are useful and of value to them. This would mean being able to communicate your banks, talk to your airlines, mobile phone providers, etc, using a different medium- a medium we’re all very familiar with using.
This will be put into place over the next couple of weeks, meaning that you shouldn’t worry about meeting that next payment deadline! Happy days!
Stay tuned for more information!
Source: WhatsApp
