3 ms·

Except that was all done before meta bought it. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/952359-thoughts-about-my-free-iphone-app-whatsapp.html https:

• lmm 3y ago
  But getting bought by facebook was the only business plan they ever had, so it was facebook that made all that possible.
  • eps 3y ago
    Not true. They were doing perfectly fine charging a fair fraction of their 100 mil userbase $1 a month. They sold because founders wanted an exit.
    • hot_gril 3y ago
      They probably got initial funding from investors thinking about a future exit. Investors aren't as interested in a company that intends to simply survive on modest profits forever. This is also why startups tend to magically die when big companies aren't doing well.
    • Unai 3y ago
      Not true. They were charging 1€ a year, not a month (at least that's the case in my country). The math doesn't add up.
      • MichaelZuo 3y ago
        Kinda surprised the parent made such a mistake since Whatsapp was very well known in tech circles for charging an incredibly low fee pre-FB acquisition. And the parent's HN account dates from 2010...
      • eps 3y ago
        My bad, it was of course per year. Point still stands that $1/year was a viable business model that covered their burn rate and then some.
  • hackernewds 3y ago
    Inaccurate. They actually tried every remedy to delay/deceive/dissuade this. This is verified in official emails declassified as part of lawsuits.
• nvarsj 3y ago
  It wasn't end to end encrypted either before Meta bought it. Maybe it's not all bad?