Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2011, and the platforms it lists (Android, BlackBerry, iOS), the app store names (Android Market, BlackBerry App World) and the €0.79 App Store price reflect WhatsApp at that time.
With tools like WhatsApp and others like it, the phone business stands to lose billions of euros. With the apps we can now install on our mobile phones, anyone still paying to send a text message simply hasn’t heard of them yet.
WhatsApp is built to run on phones with the Android, BlackBerry and iOS operating systems. Among other things, it lets you send short messages for free, share media files and even send your GPS location from one smartphone to another.
WhatsApp is available for Android in the Market, in Apple’s App Store (for €0.79) and in BlackBerry’s App World, and you can download the latest version at www.whatsapp.com/ota.
Installation is simple. You’ll be asked for your phone number and sent a message so you can complete the setup. Once it’s installed, all you have to do is fill in your details and status, add the contacts you want (as long as they have the app too), and you’re done.
Most American companies already use this kind of app, and it saves them a significant amount of money in dealing with their customers: you can send them files, messages and offers for your product at any time, at no cost, and they don’t need to be sitting at a computer to see your message or file.
The future is undoubtedly in mobile phones, and as we can see, mobile telephony is changing at an astonishing pace.
Further reading
Featured image: Luke Wroblewski, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
