This is called commoditization. Pretty much every company does this.
You offer a product that would normally be paid, for free and gain market share. Then you build a business on top of that customer base you created.
That's where WhatsApp comes in for Facebook. They've gained huge market share, now they can attract businesses that want to sell directly to consumers. This is pretty handy and common in countries like Brazil.
Before people start shouting against Facebook, I'll reiterate that every company does this:
- Microsoft did by driving PCs' prices down so they could gain software market share.
- Stripe does it, with things like Stripe Atlas. They commoditize creating your own business by making it very simple. The idea is that [some of] those new businesses will eventually use Stripe and will help the company grow.
You offer a product that would normally be paid, for free and gain market share. Then you build a business on top of that customer base you created.
That's where WhatsApp comes in for Facebook. They've gained huge market share, now they can attract businesses that want to sell directly to consumers. This is pretty handy and common in countries like Brazil.
Before people start shouting against Facebook, I'll reiterate that every company does this: - Microsoft did by driving PCs' prices down so they could gain software market share. - Stripe does it, with things like Stripe Atlas. They commoditize creating your own business by making it very simple. The idea is that [some of] those new businesses will eventually use Stripe and will help the company grow.
This is a pretty common pattern.