There is no doubt that WhatsApp has been the market leader as long as cross platform instant messaging apps are concern but its incapacity of making either audio or video calls giving room to the rivals to grow and snatch away WhatsApp’s users. The other rivals like Viber, WeChat has been providing this feature and that’s the biggest disadvantage for the giant.
WhatsApp reaches 400 million users
WhatsApp was started in 2009 by two former employee of Yahoo! Inc. and today with more than 400 million user, WhatsApp has become one of the market leader. WhatsApp is free to use for the first year and from next year onwards they charge a nominal fee of $0.99 per year. This is not a big amount for such a great app which provides facility to send unlimited messages to anyone who already have WhatsApp installed to their device free of cost. WhatsApp also allows the users to share stories, documents, photos, videos without utilizing minutes of the mobile phone.
Last month, WhatsApp managed to reach the landmark of 400 billion users who are actively using this great app for different purposes. The college guys use WhatsApp for having fun (chatting, share emotions, sharing status) however the doctors, engineers, lawyers and teachers using it to share reports and other documents. Earlier WhatsApp has been attracting young guys who are looking to get entertained and stay connected with the friends but the trend has been changing and it has been noticed that professionals like doctors, engineers have started to use.
The days are not far when people will start to demand it as pre-installed app when they decide to buy new device as the latest stats show that out 400 million users, 100 million users installed WhatsApp in just last four months. The device has been becoming so popular that people who don’t have smartphone or tablets are trying to use WhatsApp for PC. Yes you heard it right! There are plenty of tutorial available online on how to use WhatsApp for PC. The PC requires an android emulator to install WhatsApp on the PC. Once the app is installed, one can start with verification process and use it in the same way as he would on this smartphone.
WhatsApp’s Inability to make calls
Coming back to the point, WhatsApp’s inability of making calls, let it be audio or video calls giving rivals a room for the growth. WeChat has managed to get 300 million users however the other rivals like Viber and Kik are among the direct competitors of WhatsApp with 200 and 90 million users. The major advantage of having these apps install is their capacity of making free audio/video calls to the person who have same app install to their devices but WhatsApp calls facility hasn’t yet started. Besides this disadvantage of WhatsApp, the rivals are implementing various new features like attractive stickers, interesting backgrounds which happens to be major point of attraction for young generation. Apart from it, other thing the rivals are taking advantage is that WhatsApp charges a fee of $0.99 per year after completion of first year which young guys may not like.
The technologists suggest that if WhatsApp implements calling feature, they will be able to attract even larger no. of people in a very short duration of time. We hope the developers of this amazing app look at our post and bring the calling facility to this most loved instant message app.
The new challenges for WhatApp is coming with the increasing numbers of active users. They should do something to sustain users and continue with them. I never know about the numbers of users are that much big here. Thanks for the nice share…