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The future of WhatsApp

We all use WhatsApp at no cost.  Of course, it never came free to Facebook – they bought it for $19 billion in 2014. 

A recent purchase by Facebook for $1 billion gives a clue as to what the future is for WhatsApp – they bought a company by the name of Kustomer Inc.  Apparently, the plan is to make money out of the 2 billion monthly users of WhatsApp of whom 400 million alone are in India, by selling goods and services inside WhatsApp or potentially allowing companies to use WhatsApp to handle customer services.  It is something my firm will have to watch closely, because WhatsApp is hugely popular and in SA, even though in countries like the USA, where Facebook is based, the vast majority of people are not familiar with WhatsApp.   WhatsApp is much bigger in countries like SA, India and Europe, but has a very small role in Facebook’s own country – probably because unlimited texts, etc have always been the order of the day in the United States and WhatsApp initially grew in countries where the mobile companies were charging a lot more for sending SMS messages as well as MMS messages.  There may also be plans to use WhatsApp for payments, but in many respects that would be driven by the Indian market the most because that is the country where WhatsApp is the most popular. 
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Monday 14-Dec-20 Share on Facebook   Tweet It

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Comments

Prishani  said:
on Monday 18-Jan-21 04:28 PM
I think Whatsapp is the most common form of messaging in SA. I think it works well for most of us here and we all enjoy using it because it’s so convenient.

Helen  said:
on Monday 18-Jan-21 09:39 AM
I would not imagine what I would do if What's App will fall away. We all have been using this app as long as I remember leaving in SA.
On the same token Ukraine does not know what's up so well as SA and other European countries as well.

Lourien  said:
on Tuesday 15-Dec-20 01:58 PM
WhatsApp is a great app to use, very user friendly. It makes life easier, cheaper and more convenient for the users.

Ashleigh De Villiers  said:
on Tuesday 15-Dec-20 01:34 PM
WhatsApp is the best since Blackberry Messenger. I was remembering how Blackberry was the in thing and everyone had one for cost saving reasons. Now you get WhatsApp and even bundles for the smartphones.

Mathilda  said:
on Tuesday 15-Dec-20 12:41 PM
WhatsApp is easy to use and majority of people have access to it.
Very convenient all in one app ,sending messages, making calls and video chats.

Bianca Taljaard  said:
on Tuesday 15-Dec-20 12:05 PM
I love whatsapp, it is cheap, easy and every one can use it.

Nicolene  said:
on Tuesday 15-Dec-20 09:09 AM
I absolutely enjoy using WhatsApp. It’s quick, precise and most importantly, it’s essentially free to use if you’re on a Wi-Fi connection and costs a minimal amount of data if you’re out and about.

Danielle  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 03:28 PM
I enjoy using Whatsapp it is affordable for may people and there is so may things you can do with WhatsApp voice calls, send songs, send pics and the list goes on. Not having Whatsapp would be very difficult as it is very convenient.

Ziyanda  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 11:44 AM
I absolutely enjoy using Whatsapp and it is affordable.

fikile  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 11:22 AM
I use Whatsapp and I would have to say it is not that bad and would recommend it to other people who still don't know how to use it as of yet. It is fun to use because you can send a lot of things with Whatsapp and that is helpful a lot of the time.

Kendall Gerlag  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 10:57 AM
These days Apps are constantly being developed further to accommodate new changes in technology. Whatsapp is definitely one of the most used apps for communication especially to keep in touch with family and friends overseas. I often find that the clarity of Whatapp calls is not always the greatest but I guess there is no room for complaints when we are being able to utilise the app free of charge.

Claudia B  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 10:38 AM
WhatsApp is just so easy to use, doesn't use that much data to send a photo, video or video call. I enjoy using WhatsApp.

Dasanya  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 10:35 AM
As with everything there are pros and cons. I think it would be great being able to use Whatsapp to contact customer services. One would hope that this would be more efficient than being put on hold in a call centre. With regards to business advertising, it would also be a great platform to use however users should be able to opt out from any unsolicited advertising. Whatsapp will definitely lose a lot of users to other social media platforms should it start charging for usage.

Kayla  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 10:11 AM
Whatsapp is the main form of communication in South Africa today. If you want to message or phone someone its almost always through whatsapp. I am sure companies will use this to their benefit in the future, it has already started.

Tayla  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 09:42 AM
Whatsapp is a convenient way to connect with people near and far. I don't think its the most safest and private app to use but it is convenient and user friendly.

Megan  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 09:14 AM
No platform can only ever be used for one thing, always need to market something else. This once again reminds me of the documentary - The Social Dilemma, an app was first designed to do this and now it needs to do that. I don't understand why Facebook isn't a good enough platform for advertising, now they need to use a more personal platform? I don't think I want to use WhatsApp anymore for that simple reason. I agree with David, no more privacy.

Bianca Niemann   said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 09:06 AM
WhatsApp has been really useful, especially when I talk to my family in Australia. As long as I have data or wifi, I can call them and speak to them for as long as I want. It is also a lot more convenient to send media files to each other.

Lucretia  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 09:01 AM
Things are changing so with Technology and the goings on behind it. Just this very weekend I had to renew my cell phone contract and thank goodness I spoke to my sister who renewed hers in June because she said, stay away from Huawei. With the whole Trump thing, Google cannot be used on Huawei like it used too. Who can live without Google nowadays???

Alexis  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:58 AM
I enjoy using Whatsapp, it is easy and a lot can be shared through it. It is the only media platform that i use actually. I am not a huge fan of social media.

Tamaryn Serfontei  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:57 AM
I was speaking to a friend of mine who lives in New Zealand the other day and I asked her why she doesn't have Whatsapp. She hadn't even heard of it! Amazing how we just assume that everyone uses WhatsApp. I think it's been a great app to get the likes of Vodacom and MTN a wake up call.

Melissa van Tellingen  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:54 AM
WhatsApp is certainly my most used App. I can't think back to the time without it. We even use it now to do video calls with clients if they don't have access to Zoom or Microsoft teams.

Roxanne Rautenbach  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:49 AM
I buy my WhatsApp on a monthly basis. I love it because its easy and its one platform to do everything, from calls to voice notes.

Angelique  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:48 AM
I am not sure if I would continue to use WhatsApp if it weren't for free because I am pretty sure there are many free apps out there and i-phone also has i-message. Some app will see the gap in the market and sweep in. I would be interested to learn how they would sell services inside whatsapp. There definitely are many companies that use WhatsApp for customer service - or "Whatsapp Business account", I guess all it does it create a job - someone who has to sit and respond to messages all day. I for one am not the "chatting" person, Whatsapp is used for convenience and used when necessary.

Chante  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:46 AM
Whatsapp is a very successful app and is quite useful and not to mention it is free, I think it would be strange if Whatsapp had to no longer be around. It is such an easy form of communication. It is crazy how quickly many people and many countries started using Whatsapp.

Jessica  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:45 AM
Well I do hope they don't start charging for it. I mean the data already used should cover it. Anyways. I have a lot of friends in America that I speak to on whatsapp and the friends I have don't really like Facebook and don't even have accounts.

Marchinique  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:40 AM
Wow, that sure is a lot of money!
I also just started using WhatsApp about 6 years ago, because before WhatsApp the majority of us, used BBM that came out with the Blackberry phones.
Who ever thought WhatsApp would become so popular in SA?

Michelle B  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:38 AM
WhatsApp is great, especially for families living in different countries. It is an inexpensive way of keeping in contact.

Clare  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 08:31 AM
I use WhatsApp only I buy my 1GB of WhatsApp data bundle for the month and boom I am sorted. Not one for SMS and actually calling people.

david  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 07:04 AM
oh yes, and i hope mark zuckerberg dies a long, slow and painful death.

david  said:
on Monday 14-Dec-20 07:03 AM
i absolutely hate whatsapp.
it is the worst.
i cannot bear being able to be contacted by anyone for free.
i hate that they can see that i am available, and just haven't bothered with their message.
sick of the rubbish.
i long for the days when people had to pay to send messages.
so much less garbage.
so much more privacy.

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Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
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