WhatsApp will free, chat eliminates fee – ANSA.it

WhatsApp will free . The popular chat owned by Facebook that travels to the billion users by announcing his Add and will eliminate the “canon” of the annual 99 cents (we are 89 cents euro) introduced a few years ago not without controversy users. However, the company promises, that does not mean the arrival of advertising on the chat.

“We have grown,” it said in the post, “and we found that this approach did not work well” . Many users do not have a debit or credit card, says WhatsApp, and “they are worried about losing contact with friends and family after the first year of use.” The company explains that “in the coming weeks” every canon of use will be removed from the different versions of the application and “WhatsApp will not charge anything for her services.”

The annual subscription snapped after use free for 12 months of the application. The service requires an annual membership from the beginning of 2014. Those who have downloaded the app before 2014, until today has continued to use it for free.

The announcement follows one made on the blog today from Monaco Jan Koum, founder of WhatsApp, during the “Digital-Life-Design” conference. Even if the correct fee was minimal – about a dollar a year – this system would create problems in the markets in developing countries where access to banking systems is not widespread. It penetration in these countries It is a key factor for the further expansion of the service.

WhatsApp will then start to explore new business models . The company emphasizes on the blog that the chat will not reach commercial listings of third parties, but this year will begin to test tools that allow users to communicate via WhatsApp with companies and organizations that interest you.

For example, with the his bank on the latest transactions, or with an airline for the delayed flight. “We want to test these new tools,” says the company, “to facilitate this communication on WhatsApp while ensuring an experience without advertising content and spam.”

WhatsApp travels to one billion users worldwide. It was founded in 2009 by Koum, born and raised in Ukraine, and Brian Acton, Michigan, both former Yahoo !. The application was acquired by Facebook for $ 19 billion two years ago.

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