WhatsApp is another messaging platform, but it's useful in that it allows you to bypass telco charges by relying upon data. It's especially useful for international communication on the cheap. And it unifies things in a simple interface. The reason the market isn't liking FB's acquisition is that, for them to make money off it, they'll have to undo the primary reasons it is so popular. It's not something easy to monetize... users don't mean much if you can't make money from them.
WhatsApp had made the decision to create a minimally invasive app in terms of monetization. The other messaging platforms have taken a different approach with very different results.
forbes.com
Messaging Apps Now Dominate Android App Revenue
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The latest App Annie survey of global app market shows just how much traction messaging apps now have in revenue generation. In September 2013, LINE was the Nr. 1 app, KakaoTalk the Nr. 3 app and WhatsApp moved up to the Nr. 6 position on the Google Play’s non-game revenue chart. Most intriguingly, the LINE Fortune-telling app was at Nr. 5 and the LINE Manga app at Nr. 7. This means that among non-game apps, half of the top revenue-generating Google Play apps in the world are now messaging apps or their affiliates. Various messaging platforms are now rushing to come up with new ways to monetize – game, cartoon, music and astrology apps linked to leading messaging platfoms are flooding the market, particularly in Asia.
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LINE tripled their revenues in two quarters to nearly $100 million a quarter. These business models might be built on sand, but they arent having trouble monetizing their users right now. The question is what approach Facebook takes with WhatsApp.
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