Whatsapp Is Finally Monetizing

When Facebook bought Whatsapp for a whopping sum of $19 Billion, Everybody considered it a smart move but very few were able to justify the lofty valuation. Facebook publically mentioned that it will not introduce ads to WhatsApp since it would be detrimental to the user experience but it went further to even remove the annual 1$ fee, which meant that Whatsapp wasn’t really earning anything. Now, with over 1.3 Billion Monthly users, Whatsapp is finally monetizing.

The messaging app is introducing a new chatting app with tons of new tools for businesses all over the world. It will likely charge a huge amount to enterprises but is considering giving it for free/minimal charges to small to mid sized businesses. “We do intend on charging businesses in the future,” WhatsApp’s Chief Operating Officer Matt Idema told the Wall Street Journal. “We don’t have the details of monetization figured out.” 

It is speculated that the app would be including a bot running on Artificial Intelligence, Inventory Manager, E-Commerce payment handling, 1-1 chat with customers and tons of other features. The app is also likely to include mass messaging features for businesses to promote their deals, coupons etc. This could potentially be a new way for the companies to spam you!

Even if Whatsapp manages to capture mid sized businesses, it would be very difficult to attract top companies. Competitors like Slack , Twilio etc.  dominate the enterprises and are prevalent in almost all Fortune 500 companies. 

Whatsapp also faces a challenge to brand the new app to exude professionalism,  since the company’s current app is widely used for informal chatting between friends, planning hangouts etc.

Overall, This is a very interesting venture and might become the golden goose for the company. Although, I am still very skeptical…

What do you think about this move? Comment down below.