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When Meta (then, just “Facebook”) bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, many wondered how it would make money from the mega-popular app. Since then it became clear that even Meta itself did not really know how to make money from the application, and the company tested many ways to do so. Now, digging into a new beta version of WhatsApp reveals new details about additional services that WhatsApp will offer for a fee as part of a new premium service.
Connect up to 10 devices
As usual, the WABetaInfo site took the new beta version of WhatsApp, this time for iOS, and discovered a new feature called WhatsApp Premium that is hidden in the application settings. Upon entering it, it becomes clear that the new premium service is not intended for standard customers of the application, but more for business users who need a little more flexibility, and only for those who will get access to it (as it is not yet clear what the conditions will be to join it).
Those who will need WhatsApp Premium will – at least for now – benefit from two specific features: the first will allow businesses to create a customized link to start a conversation with the business. For example, if Stark Industries joins WhatsApp Premium, it will be able to create a link called wa.me/StarkIndustries, so that you can talk to its customer service (“Waiting times are longer than usual. Sorry for the wait and thank you for your patience”). This link can be changed once every 90 days, and if you cancel your subscription, the link will become unavailable, and another business can grab it. Now we will see you canceling the appointment just like that.
The second, and more interesting, feature will allow businesses to connect 10 additional devices to their account at the same time. It is not yet clear whether the feature will allow businesses to connect to the same WhatsApp account using more than one smartphone, or if it is one smartphone, and 9 other devices such as computers or laptops and tablets (if one day WhatsApp will finally allow us to use them properly). In any case, these two features can be quite useful for businesses, when at least for now all other free features will remain free.
This is how it looks now. Source: WABetaInfo
Already taking money from businesses – but she is going to offer you too
Aside from the time when WhatsApp charged a dollar to download the iPhone app, WhatsApp only charged its business customers: the first 1,000 calls that business accounts make with their customers are free, but after that, WhatsApp charges them $0.0180 for every message they make. receive from customers, and $0.03 for each message the business sends to the customer if it was sent 24 hours after the last time they talked. This amount is true for Israel, but each market has its own pricing.
Obviously, these features in question are currently aimed at businesses only, but as we already reported about a month ago, Meta established a new division whose purpose is to build new and interesting features, among others for WhatsApp, which will be paid features and will allow the company to receive revenue not only from users business, but also from regular users – so we don’t yet know what Meta is planning for the rest of the world as part of its premium features.