Since it became possible to make online payments or pay with a smartphone, the popularity of such services began to grow literally like an avalanche. Everyone understood that it was convenient, fast and that there was no need to carry around not only cash, but even bank cards. Over time, even those who thought it was unsafe stopped thinking so and began to trust new technologies, linking their real and virtual accounts to payment services. Now a new trend has started in payment systems in instant messengers, and WhatsApp was one of the first to do this. The same messenger that still has not been able to establish work on several devices, despite the demands of the public.
WhatsApp can now do even more.
Payment service WhatsApp Pay
I will immediately upset those who have already taken out the card to link it to the new service of the popular messenger. So far, everything will work only in India, but progress has already been made and this means that sooner or later such a system may appear all over the world. Let's see when this can happen.
For over two years, WhatsApp has been working on building its own payment platform in India and it looks like this effort will pay off soon. According to Moneycontrol, by the end of May, the company plans to launch WhatsApp Pay in cooperation with four financial institutions of this large state with a population of about 1.3 billion people. The service will be based on the UPI (Universal Payment Interface) digital payment platform supported by the Indian government. This is a universal system that allows you to implement such universal payment methods. It is not for nothing that the title contains the word “Universal”.
Which banks does WhatsApp Pay work with?
The partners under consideration are such large national banks as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and the State Bank of India. Although the latter will not provide support for the new WhatsApp service in its first phase of launch. Gradually, support for WhatsApp Pay will be expanded for other banks that will connect to the system. The gradual development of the service and the emergence of new partners is not a difficulty in finding agreements, but rather a measure to ensure stable work. If you immediately give access to a large number of banks, then the system, which by and large is at the testing stage, may not cope with a large number of transactions. The servers will be overloaded and everything will break down. Therefore, it may take several months until everyone has access to the new function of the service belonging to Facebook.
Paying via WhatsApp is very convenient.
The limited beta testing of WhatsApp Pay began in early 2018 and has only now reached the point of allowing a large number of people to use it, if I may say so, in the real world. For more than two years, WhatsApp has been solving not only the problems of the functioning of algorithms for conducting transactions, but also security issues. And also negotiated with banks, which had to be convinced that it would not only be safe for their customers, but also beneficial for themselves.
When will WhatsApp Pay be available
I would like to believe that Indian users will be able to use the new service as soon as possible and give up cash. Rumor has it that during a pandemic, they are one of the main ways of transmission of infection from person to person. It's simple – everyone touches them, sneezes at them and they quickly move from one pocket to another. Banknotes and coins, even in ordinary times, are a real carrier of infection, and even more so in this difficult time.
When the payment service via WhatsApp is working properly in India and the company makes sure that there are no problems with either service or security, it will be possible to talk about entering other markets. However, it will not be very easy to compete with other payment systems.
When WhatsApp Pay is fully operational, it will only have more users. Although there are more of them now than any other service.
How developers make money on messengers
But, in this way, the service can start making a profit for the company. This is due to the fact that ordinary instant messengers are unprofitable in themselves. It only seems that there is nothing to take money for. Just think, messages are poisoned and that's it – they don't even create any content. This opinion is fundamentally mistaken, since the content of the messenger that works all over the world requires just an army of specialists who must support its work and receive a salary for it. In addition, there are many lawyers who will resolve issues in regional markets, but most importantly, it is necessary to ensure the operation of servers and establish their connection. All this costs not even millions, but tens, if not hundreds of millions a year.
Instagram and Twitter can still improve monetization through advertising. This path is much more difficult for WhatsApp. But by introducing a payment system, you can earn on a minimum commission from transactions, which a simple user will not notice, however he does not notice it, using Apple Pay, Google Pay or a simple bank card.
If all this works, it will be very convenient and people all over the world will have another way to spend money, as the Chinese once appeared when WeChat reached a really high level.