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How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

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Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#3

Post by robertlagrant »

exabrial wrote: post #2

What worries me is FB is in charge. It’s allegedly secure, but closed source. What’s their profit model here anyway?

I don't think it makes money. My best guess is it just was bought so no-one else bought it and linked a billion users into their social network.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#5

Post by kobalsky »

exabrial wrote: post #2

What worries me is FB is in charge. It’s allegedly secure, but closed source. What’s their profit model here anyway?

Whatsapp Business. $0.03-0.06 per conversation / authentication (multiple messages within 24hs) depending if it's transactional or marketing.

SMS providers are unreliable and expensive, it's eating their business.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#8

Post by insane_dreamer »

What surprises me is that while WhatsApp has become an "everything" app in many parts of the world, much like WeChat in China, it has not done so in the US. In fact, I don't know anyone in the US who uses WhatsApp "internally" (the only times I use it is to communicate with people outside the US).

The description of WhatsApp here is exactly what Elon wanted X to become (which clearly didn't and almost certainly now won't happen). But I'm curious as to why such as "super-app" hasn't taken root in the US like it has elsewhere.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#10

Post by itikasp »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #8

What surprises me is that while WhatsApp has become an "everything" app in many parts of the world, much like WeChat in China, it has not done so in the US. In fact, I don't know anyone in the US who uses WhatsApp "internally" (the only times I use it is to communicate with people outside the US). The description of WhatsApp here is exactly what Elon wanted X to become (which clearly didn't and almost certainly now w…

Hi, I am one of the editors of this story, and we have also thought about this. In my opinion, one of the reasons why WhatsApp hasn't become the "everything app" in the US is because Apple/iOS devices are very popular in the country, where as in much of the world, Android is popular thanks to the availability of cheaper devices. Apple offers a suit of apps and features, including Facetime, that's not available for Android users, which adds to the popularity of WhatsApp.
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