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Messaging apps, like social media services need your friends to be on the platform for it to be useful. If you start putting friction into that process then the
by Jonovono 8y ago
Messaging apps, like social media services need your friends to be on the platform for it to be useful. If you start putting friction into that process then the services are instantly not useful. Everyone of your friends that doesn't join makes that thing much less useful for you.
You say "everyone" is willing to pay that. I'll tell people about an amazing app that solves their problems they are complaining about and they go and see it's a couple dollars (one time purchase) and still complain and usually don't buy it.
There will never be a popular messaging service or social network that relies on subscriptions (maybe subscriptions for additional features though)
- alagappanr 8y agoWould agree with your sentiment, but Whatsapp itself is an example of a messaging service that relied on their 1$/year model and had around 200 million active users before it went free.
- 1024core 8y agoThey started charging after they had achieved scale.
- soziawa 8y agoNo, it cost 1$ from the very beginning on iOS.
- Jonovono 8y agoI wouldn't say they "relied" on it. It was not enforced at all (lots of people used it without paying $1) and they sold out to Facebook. It would have been interesting to see how things played out if they had stayed independent.