The world’s most popular messaging platform is finally ready to start leveraging on its millions of users. WhatsApp is reportedly planning to launch a digital payments service starting in India where it has over 200 million users some time in the coming months. According to Bloomberg WhatsApp wants to “contribute more to India’s vision for digital commerce.”
How the service will actually work is still not yet clear, but the move is logical, perhaps even necessary. Facebook has never found away to actually monetize WhatsApp since it bought it in 2014 for $22 billion. It should be recalled that long before the acquisition, WhatsApp did once charge an annual $1 subscription fee to users outside emerging markets, but this was dropped in 2016 since it was a blockage to the grow of the company.
Countries in Africa and a country like India are currently booming with different kinds of mobile payment platforms that has caused a hike in the number of mobile payment apps at the moment. In Africa the biggest mobile payment platforms are run by Mobile Network Operators and of late, we see Banks following suit. As a popular messaging app use across worldwide, we can’t wait to see how WhatsApp will implement its digital payments service and which other countries it will roll it out.
