How does Whats app make money ?

I was on my way back home & It was a bright sunny day in august here in New Jersey. All of a sudden I see my cell and nearly miss the beat. Ouch!!! 250+ unread message – pulled over took a charge and found what? I was been added to my high school reunion whats app group . I see 60-70 friends from more then 5 -8 countries were seamlessly connected by messages, funny quotes, video clips, childhood pics, teacher talks, felt absolutely great to find all of them and in seconds my face was filled with smiles & laughter. Felt nostalgic that day but this triggered me to explore on how this USD $19 billion messaging company makes money or operates?

Free messages, Free International calling, Free Video calling ,No ad-banners, No emails, No Marketing messages , Comes in 60 Languages, free on all devices (tablet, pc, mobiles) and best of all everything is free!!! free!!! free!!!. so how do they make Money?

Whatsapp Adds million users a day …..

Whatapp has 1 billion active customers ….

Whatapp sends 55 billion messages per day …..

Whatapp sends 4.5 billion photos per day …….

WhatsApp Video enabled Status now has 250 million daily users…..

How do they make Money ?

1.   Initially the app used to cost about $1 to download , users in some Asian countries were offered the first year for free but, each subsequent year costs $1 — in other word, WhatsApp had a subscription model. However all that is past and its turned free, as now coapny has found next big leap to make money.

2.    Facebook’s information-related rationale for the acquisition lies in the way users share data, according to Ovum principal analyst Mark Little. “The more Facebook users there are, the more sharing activity and the more connections that users have, then the more inventory is available for advertising, thus driving revenues,” he explains. WhatsApp is used to drive sharing activity and therefore advertising on Facebook. (remember those permissions you accepted !!!)

3.   With location sharing data, & with 55 billion messages sent per day, and access to users' entire contact lists, and there real location - Facebook has access to a ton of personal information on your life styles, location, activities – all uploaded and saved on its servers. This data helps revenue by target based marketing for Facebook market place or any app from Mark Zuckerberg group. While Mark Zuckerberg has previously promised that this data won’t be used to improve consumer targeting in Facebook ads, it will be unless the user changes the group  settings to not share information with Facebook.

4.   Business to customer services getting launched in no time from whatsapp as business version of the app called whatsapp Business. Whatsapp will fit in with API to most of all business applications at client places. Under this model Business enterprises will pay for customer service charges per message or per contact or for registrations (figures or plan are not disclosed)

"That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight," wrote Koum.

“Placing an order with a local bakery or looking at new styles from a clothing store” and “shopkeepers who use WhatsApp to stay in touch with hundreds of customers from a single smartphone”, plus offer “an easier way to respond to messages.”

5.   Launch of Whatsapp business will open million transactions a day easily for the company billion active customers daily . This will helping them with marketing revenue from broadcast ads or videos. This move (Whatsapp business version) can also make them e-commerce competitor to the likes of Amazon having USD $1.1billion orders which is not far to out-pass for likes of Facebook & whatsapp.  

After being one of tech’s biggest startup acquisitions, WhatsApp has tripled in size under relatively hands-off management by Facebook. Now it’s time to earn its keep. This shift of buying patterns and new technology is what as a student, business consultant and IT professionals should keep a close eye on. Have not thought on how Artificial intelligence whatsbot (whatsapp’s siri - virtual assistant ) will help built revenue in this post but definitely its sound super exciting and thrilling to be a part of this game changer industry.

I'd love to hear your thoughts - get in touch via the comments or Facebook . No, you can't message me on WhatsApp. Not yet at least...