I wonder, if we were proper customers of Facebook and paid them to transport our messages, whether it would open the possibility of a Ma Bell-style antitrust lawsuit. Force interconnectivity to allow the little guys to play too.
WhatsApp is paid (after a year), but it doesn't help with supporting any open IM standard.
Yeah, I've never understood this. I've seen it now-and-then when installing WA for family members, but I (and they) have never, ever had to pay for it after using it for multiple years.
It's free since Facebook bought them. I've had Android friends mention payment screens are still on their WhatsApp though.
It was free before Facebook brought them too. It just nagged people to pay once a year, but if one didn't pay, it just kept working.