WhatsApp wants to ask companies to pay
WhatsApp plans to charge companies in the future if they use Facebook's messaging service to communicate with their customers. Matt Idema, the WhatsApp manager in charge of operations, told the Wall Street Journal.
This would be a departure from Facebook's typical business model of financing its services through advertising. WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum had always emphasized, even after the takeover by Facebook, that the service should remain ad-free. WhatsApp has more than a billion users. "We want to create a foundation for people to be able to send text messages to companies and get the responses they want," Idema told the newspaper. "We plan to charge companies for that in the future."
Previously, companies were offered free services for contacting customers on a trial basis. The online network also offers the option for companies to communicate with their customers on its second short message service, Facebook Messenger. There, however, the money is to be earned with advertising. Messenger boss David Marcus also wants to establish automated chatbots for customer service on the platform.
Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for around $22 billion. Most recently, there was controversy with data protectionists over an exchange of user data between WhatsApp and Facebook. In Europe, the plans are on hold. (SDA)
