WhatsApp is one of the most successful and rapidly expanding applications. It has already managed to have more than 450 million users. Yet, WhatsApp is not going to remain static. One of the most key evident, reflecting its success is that the number of users increases by more than 1 million after every three days. WhatsApp is now ready to enter the market of prepaid SIMs. It is eying to grab a huge share in the mobile industry. Jan Koum, the founder of WhatsApp has already announced this plan.
Journey from an Application to MNVO
WhatsApp seems to be eying for being listed in stock exchange, following the footsteps of Facebook. The price of the first SIM card launched by WhatsApp is € 10. It was done in partnership with E-Plus. The main feature of these SIM cards is that they allow the free usage of WhatsApp application. This is a huge step because it means that a company, without having a network, is able to enter telecommunication industry. This is a mighty figure. In the past, some companies have done so and their products are called MVNO. WhatsApp is now one of them.
Collaboration of WhatsApp and E-Plus
The SIM card offered by WhatsApp, contains all the features of the application free of cost. The company has revealed that this step involves the partnership with more than 50 companies around the world. Basically, all these partners are the network services run by E-Plus. According to the agreement, E-Plus will facilitate the features of WhatsApp through the SIM cards.
The cost of the SIM card is basically zero. Because the amount you pay while purchasing the SIM is already credited to the SIM. So you can sue that credit to make calls and subscribe for WhatsApp services. The annual fee of 0.99$ is due at the end of the year. It means that during the first year, you do not have to pay for the subscription.
Calling rates of WhatsApp are also comparatively lower than the rates of other networks. It seems that WhatsApp has plans to become the leading SIM card seller in the whole world.
Voice Call Feature Announced
Another recent announcement made by the company suggests that WhatApp is going to offer extensions to voice call features. Currently, you can enjoy voice messaging services rather than a two way verbal communication at the same time. This is going to test the popularity of WeChat, which offers voice calling service for the unlimited time. It has been the feature of WeChat for a long time. Now WhatsApp is going to challenge it, let us see who succeeds in attracting potential users.
There are no hints in the announcement regarding the charges of voice calls. Rumors are still prevailing in the market, but nothing could be declared with surety. WhatsApp has dominated in a number of countries around the world. Germany is the biggest example of these countries. We can anticipate that the rapid increase in the popularity of WhatsApp, indicates a great future for the application.