WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees • Hacker News Board

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#51

Post by defenestration » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 9:42 PM UTC

hendzen wrote: post #40

secfirstmd wrote: post #12

Signal is also free and based on a business model that doesn't require eventually being able to interfere with your privacy and mine your data. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/signal-private-messenger/id8... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri...

What business model is Signal based on?

From their description in the iTunes store: 'Pay Nothing - Signal is supported by a team of dedicated developers, community donations, and grants. There are no advertisements, and it doesn't cost anything to use.'

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#52

Post by mahouse » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 9:48 PM UTC

ronnier wrote: post #8

I don't like that WhatsApp is tied to my phone number.

I like that WhatsApp is tied to my phone number. It just works. That's the one of the biggest reasons of its success.

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#53

Post by nly » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 9:52 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #11

That's too bad. If you're paying, you're the customer. If you're not paying, you're the product.

Paying for something doesn't mean you're not a product.

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#54

Post by mcintyre1994 » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 10:02 PM UTC

ptx wrote: post #42

When I very recently started using WhatsApp, the client displayed a link to a blog post[0] they wrote about why charging subscription fees was important and a good thing: "At every company that sells ads, a significant portion of their engineering team spends their day tuning data mining, writing better code to collect all your personal data, upgrading the servers that hold all the data and making sure it's all being…

Heh, I guess it's not particularly surprising that making the founders billionaires changed their minds - although it really did read as if they had principles at the time!

"These days companies know literally everything about you, your friends, your interests, and they use it all to sell ads."

There really is only one company this could be describing isn't there? Facebook.

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#55

Post by StavrosK » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 10:06 PM UTC

ptx wrote: post #42

When I very recently started using WhatsApp, the client displayed a link to a blog post[0] they wrote about why charging subscription fees was important and a good thing: "At every company that sells ads, a significant portion of their engineering team spends their day tuning data mining, writing better code to collect all your personal data, upgrading the servers that hold all the data and making sure it's all being…

I'm not sure how true that ever was. I've been using WhatsApp for years and never paid anything. They'd always just extend the subscription. None of my friends ever paid anything either (most of the people who use WhatsApp here don't even have a CC on file at Google Play).

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#56

Post by jhasse » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 10:09 PM UTC

free2rhyme214 wrote: post #50

jhasse wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also WhatsApp is closed-source, but Telegram's client is open-source.

Not everything with Telegram is open source like Signal. I still use Telegram because it's designed better and updated much more frequently.

I'm using both, too. :) But unfortunately I don't use Chrome, so I can't use Signal on my PC yet.

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#57

Post by CodeGlitch » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 10:11 PM UTC

I'm just going to stick to Email :) I'm old enough to see all these messaging applications come and go (ICQ, MSN Messanger anyone?). I'd rather see a company try and improve email's flaws then try and force new protocols and undefined encryption down our throats.

Yes I sound grumpy, but that's because all my family are on WhatsApp and I don't want to be :)

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#58

Post by StavrosK » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 10:13 PM UTC

Pharaoh2 wrote: post #46

51Cards wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

So I know internal figures from facebook regarding whatsapp. A large majority of our users are never actually charged a subscription fee. 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 mark…

> 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

Does that mean they can now?

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#59

Post by ex3ndr » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 10:18 PM UTC

jhasse wrote: post #21

ultramancool wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a toss up: - WhatsApp uses reputable cryptography from reputable sources, but combines it with a UI so much designed for ease of use that it throws out the possibility of real security - Telegram uses extremely questionable cryptography to begin with from people who probably shouldn't be designing cryptosystems If you want real security, go use Signal or better, OTR where socialist millionaire's is still an opti…

Also WhatsApp is closed-source, but Telegram's client is open-source.

Telegram is actually not open, they just throw some sources to github or as zip files at their's langing page. That's why i quit Telegram and built open source "Telegram" - https://actor.im and replaced spagetti-encryption with enhanced version of Signal's one.

Re: WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees

#60

Post by gst » Mon, Jan 18, 2016, 10:22 PM UTC

ronnier wrote: post #8

I don't like that WhatsApp is tied to my phone number.

Same here.

I have two phone numbers (one in the US and one in Austria) and also spend a considerable amount of time in both countries each year. I'm usually reachable on both numbers (and usually only give the local number to people in each country), with one number forwarding to the other number.

With WhatsApp I can't link both numbers at the same time. Even worse, according to the FAQ there's a limit on how often you can change the phone number linked to the account, so it's not even an option to just always change it to the "local" number.