'What' Lies in Store

Its been more than a year since Whatsapp entered my life, and is such an inherent part of it now, i wonder how people passed their time in the pre-Whatsapp era.

For the uninitiated, 

Whatsapp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages using the same internet data plan that you use for email and web browsing, available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia. 

Created by ex-Yahoo! employees, Brian Acton and Yan Koum, Whatsapp is a nifty little app which allows one - to - one as well as group chats, with a maximum group size of 50. It also has (most importantly) nil advertising on its interface. Here's why, explained by the creators themselves. Its free for a year and costing $0.99 p.a. thereafter (on all platforms, since 17th July). (Incidentally, the creators were so kind as to extend my free usage by another year. Thanks Brian and Yan!) 

So, what Whatsapp has done basically is eliminated sms usage, much to the chagrin of telecom companies and other instant messaging apps like iMessage, Blackberry Messenger, Gtalk and Facebook Chat. Staying in touch with friends abroad is a breeze, creating groups for different friend circles encompassing people in locations all over India and abroad is now possible, and various activities can be coordinated now, that would require several phone calls or mass messages before. 

By the way, it is also a bit distracting. And by a bit, i mean a lot. The ease of forwards and broadcast messages has made jokes and memes repetitive and an utter nuisance throughout the day. I have actually taken to switching off internet services while at work nowadays and checking in every hour or two (which saves a surprising amount of battery charge) to reduce the pings and the overwhelming desire to reply to each one (there is also a mute option within the app for silencing specific groups)

Over the last couple of months, some amazing numbers have been revealed by the company. It recently surpassed 250 million active users worldwide (greater than twitter) and now handles 27 billion messages per day. It is quite a feat for an app or software to spread all over the world and gain mass acceptance so rapidly, especially one that has no formal advertising or promotion expense (just word of mouth) What is it that has made Whatsapp so attractive and an instant hit? What gives it the edge over competitors? (WeChat from China has tried very hard, with voice messages and Lionel Messi in tow, and Whatsapp has responded by incorporating voice messages in its latest version)

So, what lies in store for this behemoth going forward? Thus far they seem intent on not monetizing user data and information, and offering unlimited usage. What other sources of revenue are possible from this user base? Will they turn to social networking and gaming? Or will they offer corporate solutions by defining a whole suite of <chat-email-calender-task manager> for mobile and desktop devices, all integrated into one? Only time will tell. Until then, keep sending those forwards in. Cheers.