This doesn't explain the success WhatsApp had in Europe.
Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, etc. WhatsApp dominates all of these markets.
I think a reason for this is that in Europe, we're not used to unlimited text plans. Unlike the US, we don't have to pay to receive text messages, only to send them, so there is little incentive to get an "unlimited plan" anyways. But ultimately, you still end up paying 20 cents or so for a text message, whereas with WhatsApp you pay at max 1 buck per year.
Secondly, for a long time, WhatsApp's user experience was simply much better than what Facebook had to offer with their Facebook messenger app. There simply was no alternative to WhatsApp for quite some time.
I actually resisted hopping on the WhatsApp train for a long time, but when virtually everyone of your friends uses it, you will join up sooner or later.
Unlimited texts come with every mobile plan which cost more than 20€,
even when it's not unlimited the rates are really cheap and you don't pay for received texts ever.
MMS were never part of the data plan either, when you get unlimited SMS it always comes with free MMS.
afaik, using whatsapp require you to have a data plan, and in France you'll almost always get unlimited texts before data plans
almost all of France's carrier offer ulimited SMS as default. then comes MMS then voice.
I'd venture and propose that one of the biggest reason WhatsApp (and before that BB and why the blackberry platform had an appeal to mass consumers) worked so well is for a simple reason yet none is going to easily admit willingly:
WhatsApp lets you see if the person you texted to has read your text or not in a non intrusive way.
Also not to forget, WhatsApp started when iMessage didn't exist and Facebook messenger either, it wasn't even giving a delivery confirmation. Only BBM did, only on blackberries.
And here comes WhatsApp who does the exact same thing only much simpler ("are you on whatsApp? yeah! give me your phone number, i'll add you" instead of BBM pushing their PIN system...) and it comes working for almost all platforms. when it launched, it sure worked on Blackberry and iphone.
Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, etc. WhatsApp dominates all of these markets.
I think a reason for this is that in Europe, we're not used to unlimited text plans. Unlike the US, we don't have to pay to receive text messages, only to send them, so there is little incentive to get an "unlimited plan" anyways. But ultimately, you still end up paying 20 cents or so for a text message, whereas with WhatsApp you pay at max 1 buck per year.
Secondly, for a long time, WhatsApp's user experience was simply much better than what Facebook had to offer with their Facebook messenger app. There simply was no alternative to WhatsApp for quite some time.
I actually resisted hopping on the WhatsApp train for a long time, but when virtually everyone of your friends uses it, you will join up sooner or later.