Whatsapp abolishes subscription payment

"The acquisition has allowed us to focus on growth and not think about making money," co-founder Jan Koum said Monday at the DLD Internet conference in Munich. Whatsapp wants to be more involved in communications between businesses and consumers in the future, he said, referring to a possible future business model. The service has more than 900 million users worldwide, up from around 450 million when it was acquired by Facebook. The deal with Facebook, he said, has allowed Whatsapp to use the infrastructure of the world's largest online network - for example, in launching voice telephony, which would otherwise have required many of its own resources. At the same time, WhatsApp has largely been able to retain its independence, Koum emphasized. For example, software development continues to run on its own platform, he said. (SDA)