WhatsApp is now free for life in Spain
The messaging application most used in the world has begun to give a change to its business model And, until now, WhatsApp has been paid, although not everyone has had to spend money to use it due to its randomness with the charges. However, after the rumors about its imminent free status, those responsible for the application confirmed that WhatsApp would be free for life for all since last Monday, January 18, although it would take several weeks for this new policy to be applied worldwide.Two days later, WhatsApp becomes completely free for all users in Spain
This has been notified by the application itself to Spanish users who used the application during the night of Tuesday the 19th. A notification with which WhatsApp has warned that the service of said application has been extended However, far from giving the user a few months or a year of service before paying, as was the case in many cases, it is confirmed that the messaging applicationwill be free for life
Now, what happens to those who had paid for this service and still had several months to finish their plan? These users have also received notifications, informing them that their WhatsApp account has been for life. However, as some newspapers have reported, there will be no refund, neither total nor partial, of the renewal fee.Something that those who have decided to disburse just over three euros for five years of service In any case, not too high an expense.
The decision to offer this messaging service for free is given by a bad approach of its monetary policies at the beginning of the company, according to those responsible for WhatsApp Thus, in a publication on its official blog, commented that the payment of close to 1 euro for the renewal of the service put obstacles to users who could not access credit cards A problem for the true mission of WhatsApp: reach maximum number of possible users
Now under the umbrella of Facebook, who bought the app in February 2014 for more $16 billion, paying to use this app made less senseDo not forget that Facebook has its own messaging application, Facebook Messenger, the which is completely free and offers some features that are not even present in WhatsApp, such as third-party applications or video calls In addition, the benefits of that testimonial euro per year that users of WhatsApp had to pay (and that was not always paid), were little less than small change for the total billing of the company, whose real interest is to get WhatsApp everyone and then find a more profitable formula to monetize it
It seems that WhatsApp will continue to grow in 2016, surpassing the billion barrier of active users worldwide; and looking for a new business model that would be focused on presenting this application as direct communication channel between users and companies Something that could generate money without the users having to contribute it out of their pockets.
With this, WhatsApp closes a stage with more shadows than lightsAnd the fact is that the application has never been too clear about paying for its service. Thus, iPhone users who initially paid to download the application got, in the first years of this tool's existence, a free account for life However, Android users had to pay annually That provided that their accounts were not updated automatically and randomly for free Something that has happened quite frequently, there are people who, after years of using this messaging tool, they have never paid for its service. Then WhatsApp decided to offer the first year of free service, and charge everyone after that period , which caused a stir among the bulk of its users.Some even decided to not pay for the renewal and, paradoxically, got a free extension of several months of serviceNow, finally, everything is clear: WhatsApp will be free forever Something that users SpanishThey have been enjoying themselves for hours.
