Are you a user? If so, and you've been such for over a year - have you paid? I've never been charged, and to my knowledge nobody I know has either. I don't get if we should be getting charged but they just don't seem to bother. I get an annual notification saying I've been extended and no more information.

They do price testing, if they believe there is no better option for you, and you will pay, they will charge you.

They will not charge you if, for example, you're someone living in the USA. There is far too much free competition.

For their non smartphone market (don't have numbers but its large), there is very little if any at all competition, and people in places like india gladly pay the $1 fee for a years access on their dumbphone.

> people in places like india gladly pay the $1 fee for a years access on their dumbphone.

I am in India and I have never been charged for Whatsapp. Every year, whatsapp decides to add more free months.

Also, there is significant competition in the messaging space in India, and Indians are not comfortable paying for anything other than their phones.

They might base it on who's likely to pay. It might be better, in their minds, to keep you as a user than to potentially send you away.

Has anyone ever actually paid $1 / year for WhatsApp? I know in several places they claim that is their business model, but I've never come across anyone that has paid for WhatsApp.

Part of that may be due to the fact that WhatsApp grows so fast that most users haven't been around for a year, but I'm under the impression that after a year, if you don't pay, the app continues to work and you never lose access.

Jan Koum actually stated at Startup School that whatsapp started monetizing to REDUCE load because they were acquiring users too fast and that it backfired, ultimately leading to profitability. From a strategic standpoint, whatsapp puts facebook in a great mobile position in a lot of emerging markets outside the US.

>that it backfired, ultimately leading to profitability.

On what planet can the act of becoming profitable be considered a "backfire"?

I believe Facebook reported in their financials though in their first quarterly earnings report after the acquisition that Whatsapp was losing $100mm+ annually. I'm not saying that won't change, but their business model still needs some tweaks.

Generating revenues is not the same as making profit. If their infrastructure costs more than $1 / user to maintain on an annual basis they could very well still be losing money. To compare their price to something you'd have to compare it to dividends to the parent company or net profits for the division if it is integrated.

Revenues don't mean a thing.

take 25+ cents off for cc processing... 700m * .70 = 490 million. Not everyone will do it, but assuming most, maybe $350 million in recurring. Certainly nice, but does that justify $19B? That's something like a 2% return, if my calcs are close.