WhatsApp no longer free...will you pay?

[stektan]

Seriously I don't understand why people can afford to pay for an expensive watch but so stingy on a dollar. There is no free lunch and for the features and flexibility of whatapps, it's cheap.. The developers deserve some income as well. Would you work for free?

[SpEr]

Buy this $1 fee whatapp creator gonna be a multi millionaire!
Nevertheless, i think it still depends on the frequent people you interact with to judge whether you still want to continue the service. If most of the people you talk to is no longer into this software... No point yourself having it also?

[hotdog1188]

if u like the apps why not pay? its not much, ppl are like dat....like the apps but jus cannot stand the creator becoming a millionaire,
if so go design ur own apps la...u know how much profit the chicken rice seller makes for selling one plate?

[pegasi]

Seriously I don't understand why people can afford to pay for an expensive watch but so stingy on a dollar. There is no free lunch and for the features and flexibility of whatapps, it's cheap.. The developers deserve some income as well. Would you work for free?

I appreciate your comments. I just wonder if you had read all my comments in this thread.

[pegasi]

Buy this $1 fee whatapp creator gonna be a multi millionaire!

They already are.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/benedict...ever-heard-of/

[pegasi]

I cannot understand either this if-you-can-afford-an-expensive-watch comparison.

It is apparent that USD0.99 is very little amount of money, even for those who can only afford a Casio.

This thread is never about afordability or whether whatsapp should be charging. It is about making a choice (as the thread title asks: "will you pay?") under such a circumstance, i.e. the way whatsapp applies charges. Maybe this discussion is less relevant for Apple users, since this group of people choose to pay/use or not to pay/not to use from the very beginning.

Not everything is measured in monetary term.

Of those who said here that they won't pay, no one accuse whatsapp for charging. While there are tons of free apps, there are also many paid apps. Both business models are perfectly fine, and in both the developers run their business and make money in a different way. One thing for sure - when all things are equal, a free app attracts a lot more users than paid app.

Why are whatsapp not being more trasparent with the fact that it is indeed a free-to-trial version on the Play Store?

If you think whatsap invented IM as data over phones, you are wrong. But whatsapp deserve the credit (and hence the charges) for making it possible across platforms, notably across iOS and Android, while BBM is confined to BlackBerry phones.

If you think whatsapp set off with the intention to let people use for free, and only started to charge users in order to substain operating cost, you are very wrong.

[hotdog1188]

singapore cars damn ex....why ppl still pay??

[stektan]

Bro.. No offense.. Take this as a discussion ok? After all this is a forum meant for people to discuss and share opinion.

Saying that.. It does seem to be about money even if some claim it is not. Why? If you use it when it's free and chose not to use it when it's charged, it's about money. Otherwise, you will not use it even if it is free..as a matter of principle. So I personally find it very hard to accept when people complain about having to pay $1. Have we as a society become so spoiled and taking things for granted?

Business models changes over time and they need to in order to survive. Many of these apps started off as free but things are always simple when it's small. When it becomes bigger and needs to scale in order to meet expectations of 200M people, development cost shoots up and bills need to be paid. Ya some do go on other business models like having ads or charging for micro transactions but I personally think a straight off charge is the best, which is what whatapps has done. Yes they become millionaires but companies like Apple have more than $100B in cash but very few people seem to stop buying their products becos of that. A lot of these free to trial apps do state it quite clearly in their terms and conditions or their FAQ but most people don't bother to read and complain after.

Again, no offense bro but just sharing my rant as well. Disclaimer - I do not work for whatsapp and I'm not a developer. Just a user.

[pegasi]

Of course this is just for discussion bro stektan

You don't seem to get my point but it's ok.

Happy New Year.

[pegasi]

At least we have one thing in common - the GMT II C

[steve mcqueen]

Can't imagine myself without Whatsapp 1 day

[Zhi_Peng]

Interesting topic..

I will pay for it. I had Line and Viber both installed on my phone but doesn't seems to use it much as compared to whatsapp.. Many of us had already get used to it. So i think USD0.99 its still acceptable.

[raceking]

Whatsapp . best .........

[Lancelot_Rol]

if the amount is small, i dont mind. Heavy user!

[tassiner]

this is a year 1.98