Whatsapp for Android to be paid soon?

A lot of users would feel that Whatsapp is probably the best thing to have happened to mobile messaging in recent years. The fact that it is cross-platform and works across the major players viz.  Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone and Symbian, just makes it that much more preferable. And last, but not the least, the fact that it is a free app, at least on Android and some other platforms, is the icing on the cake.

Well, rumor has it that Whatsapp may not remain free for long. Android HD Blog reports that there have been persistent rumors circulating in a Dutch blog over the past few months that Whatsapp may soon become a paid platform. In a way this does not come as surprising news, considering it has always been a paid app on iOS for all this while.

In fact even from the times when Android was not necessarily the most widely used mobile OS in the world, Whatsapp for Android was a free app.  Now that Android has taken over the biggest chunk of the smartphone OS pie, not to mention the fact that Whatsapp adoption has also multiplied exponentially, it looks like the makers of  Whatsapp are probably thinking it is time to cash in. In the event that it does go paid, there may be an annual subscription fee, of a dollar or two, which frankly is as good as free, considering the convenience that this awesome app brings to messaging. But there would always be users who might want to move to a truly free service rather than have to pay a nominal annual fee for a truly great one.

This potential development might raise some possibilities for Samsung’s proprietary messaging solution ChatOn. While it has not really enjoyed the kind of adoption that Whatsapp has, except perhaps in Samsung’s home market, this might seem like a good opportunity to set that right. Of course, nothing is confirmed at this point, and these a re all rumors still. We’ll be keeping our ears tuned for anything that develops on this front, and will keep you posted as we hear more. After all, we use Whatsapp too.

Via Android HD Blog