How does WhatsApp actually make money?
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While you can use the messenger for free, there are high costs involved in operating the app.
Anyone who has been using WhatsApp for more than 10 years may be part of the generation that loves the messenger app have yet paid. There was one back then small fee necessary to stay in touch with friends via WhatsApp.
However, that changed when Facebook introduced Messenger in 2014 for around $19 billion has taken over. Since then, WhatsApp has been for his almost 3 billion users completely free.
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The operation costs a lot of money
WhatsApp even guarantees that you will not have any insight into the chats. This is made possible by end-to-end encryption. For all of this there are enormous amounts Computing power necessary, the not exactly free are.
And because WhatsApp is not a charitable association in the sense of the common good, the question naturally arises: How does WhatsApp actually make money?
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Meta and the companies
The fact that behind the messenger is helpful for the operation of WhatsApp financially strong company stands. Meta The current market capitalization on the stock exchange is a whopping 1.46 trillion dollars. However, Meta does not publish detailed insights into WhatsApp’s expenses and income.
Even if the chats are encrypted, you can still use WhatsApp not entirely without user data across the stage. Meta knows who is in contact with whom and when and can track which company channels you are subscribed to. Analyzes of this data flow into WhatsApp’s business tools.
WhatsApp makes companies pay
A significant source of income for WhatsApp are companies that use the messenger for their purposes Communication with customers use. Wear that several billion dollars contributed to sales, Nikila Srinivasan, who is responsible for business messaging at Meta, revealed to the BBC.
As part of WhatsApp Business companies become extensive Tools provided that for Advertising purposes, Customer contact or the direct communication can be used. And that costs Meta a lot. It’s difficult to say how much it actually costs to use WhatsApp Business because Preis depends on the number of interactions.
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Meta plays for time with WhatsApp
Meta plays with WhatsApp but also for time and has long-term plans. While people in Central Europe don’t hear much about it at the moment, in India, for example, it is clear where the journey is headed. You can be there directly in WhatsApp Buy bus tickets and Make seat reservations.
Companies and customers should be able to do things directly in the chat thread, says Srinivasan, describing the vision of the messenger. That means if you want to book a ticket, one Return If you want to arrange or pay an invoice, then users should be able to do so, without leaving the chat to have to.
All of this is very reminiscent WeChat. The Chinese messenger has quickly become one in its home market Universal-App developed. In addition to the usual chatting, you can not only make payments and transfer money, you can also order food, call taxis, play online games and much more
WhatsApp in the EU
It will take a while – if at all – before this happens in Austria, Germany or other EU countries. It’s not just bureaucratic and regulatory matters to be taken into account, also with the acceptance of users for such functions, there are still unanswered questions.
WhatsApp is currently in the process of becoming one in this country EU requirement to fulfill and compete for Open messenger applications. Even if the EU wants to help smaller providers have equal opportunities, this could be so-called Interoperability grow into a killer feature for WhatsApp.
It seems like Meta turn the tablesso the EU’s shot could backfire. If you, as a WhatsApp user, can also be reached from all other messenger apps, there is hardly any reason for WhatsApp users to use another messenger service.
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