I would agree. I think their user base has hit some tipping point which ensures other revenue streams. That's the only reason I can think they would throw the fees... out the window.
(nice user name)
(nice user name)
The app is facing stiff competition in some markets against apps that don't have any subscription model. Even though whatsapp won't actually charge those users the presence of a subscription feature seems to be causing a growth hinderance.
Not sure how it will compete in these markets now given the entrenched nature of social platforms and how hard it is to convince people to switch but that remains to be seen.
Also, until recently whatsapp/facebook couldn't actually read any message sent by users to other users/groups because of the end to end encryption in place. Not sure why they would change that just to get a data mined revenue source, metadata is quite sufficient for that. Even with NSLs on fb in place, the impossibility of of us to read the messages in whatsapp is sufficient reason to deny a NSL request.
Zuck doesn't really interfere with whatsapp, but like with some other things this seems like a bid to increase DAUs and retention instead of any new source of revenue.
Does that mean they can now?
That statement is based on my latest information, which is a few months dated, that they couldn't. Things could have changed but it's unlikely.
The announcement said handling payment was a big problem. Well, a support call costs $20 or so. If 5% of customers have a payment problem (don't have credit card any more etc) and 50% of those incidents require human attention, that's half of Whatsapp's revenue and a serious reason for churn and user dissatisfaction. 5% and 50% are random numbers, but you see the point, right?