
Instant messaging (IM) platform WhatsApp, which has been the subject of scams and uncertainty around the premium it has long said would start costing $0.99 a year - or R7.99 - after the first free 12 months, has yet to clarify if or how it charges users.
For a month now - since 4 November - ITWeb has been trying to get answers out of WhatsApp following a number of users' questioning whether the supposed premium for the IM platform will become payable.
Eight e-mailed queries and two weeks later, after no response from WhatsApp, the company's public relations firm responded to say WhatsApp was not prepared to discuss its monetisation strategy.
ITWeb immediately responded to explain it was not after the company's strategy - but merely wanted to clear up the confusion around the R7.99 premium users had been informed they would have to start paying after the first year's complimentary use. In response, its public relations agency said WhatsApp would not be answering queries as it was "intensely press shy", and rarely engaged with the media in general.
WhatsApp has also not responded to questions around the premium, which were posed to the company on Twitter. On 20 November, ITWeb sent the same query to Facebook, which closed its $22 billion acquisition of WhatsApp two months ago, but no feedback has yet been received.
Local popularity
South African mobile users are increasingly migrating from the previous darling of IM, BlackBerry Messenger, to WhatsApp.
While SA-specific stats are not readily available from WhatsApp, an update to World Wide Worx's SA Social Media Landscape 2014 report (February 2014) revealed the WhatsApp app was used by at least 10.6 million South African adults on their phones.
The research firm says there are about 11.8 million Facebook users in SA. "WhatsApp is the most popular app in the Android, Apple and Windows app stores."
Subscription service
WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows users to exchange messages without having to pay for SMSes. Its messenger is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android and Nokia.
According to WhatsApp's frequently asked questions portal, the company will never "bother" users with ads. "We do have small subscription fees, however. Please note that WhatsApp will never automatically charge you for your subscription.
"For all phone types, WhatsApp is free to download and try for the first year. After, you have the option of extending your subscription for $0.99 per year."
No implementation
However, it would appear the subscription fee has not yet come into effect.
Swift Consulting CEO and tech blogger Liron Segev says he has "no idea" what the situation is with WhatsApp's premium. "I have had the same experience, where [the app] counted down the month until the trial was over and then [WhatsApp] just started over again."
SA's largest mobile operator Vodacom is also in the dark as to when and how the R7.99 fee is going to be instituted - if at all. Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman says: "I've got nothing, I'm afraid. I've also seen stuff rolling around - probably more than a year ago - about [WhatsApp] charging $1 per year, but they don't seem to be enforcing it."
One analyst with an explanation is World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck, who says WhatsApp's premium policy is genuine and nothing new, but the company is not chasing users for payment. "All you have to do is reinstall the app and the year starts all over again."
Goldstuck says the amount of people that do, voluntarily, pay for the app keeps WhatsApp going. "But there is no such thing as your service terminating if you do not pay for it."
Why WhatsApp is not enforcing it, says Goldstuck, is a strategic play. "[WhatsApp's] emphasis has been on growing their user base, and their strategy has paid off handsomely. [The company] would have never reached the same volumes being a pay app."
He says, even though the amount payable is marginal, "it is not about the price, but the price tag". Apps without a price tag - regardless of the amount - are the ones that go viral, he adds.
"I suspect that, eventually, Facebook is going to enforce the policy and users will move on to the next best thing. It's the very idea of paying for an app that makes people move on to the next service."
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