Hacker News Reader

There's no way it would've gotten the adoption it did in 3rd world countries if you had to pay $1 per year.

Thing is, it already was getting that adoption, and network effect can largely take care of the rest. Also, some it’s tied to a real phone number, geographic price differentiation is trivial to implement.

Ok I paid the 1 buck, or agreed to pay a year later. Those days I lived in India, and my friend kinda forced me to use whatsapp by selling it. I still remember sitting in an auto-rickshaw and downloading the app after the sales pitch :) This must have been 2012, but could it be earlier - maybe.

Point being, I agree with you, it was getting that adoption anyways, even with the fees. And within months, I was hearing this from so many others.

How do I remember? I moved back to US in Feb 2013, so it had to be before that, just can not recall the exact year and month.

I think it grew there when you had to pay. It was still cheaper than the alternative.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com