Ever wondered just how a messaging app could make money while giving free texting and calling? WhatsApp users at India may be surprised to find out there is far more to messaging apps than communicating. Here is how: by offering services like digital payments, online shopping as well as content. China’s WeChat is one of the ultimate example of the great opportunity which messaging apps hold. With well over 900 million monthly active users, WeChat enables them do anything from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, ordering online food and even offline payments at restaurants – all of this without needing to go to another app. These types of services not just provide the company outstanding customer stickiness, in addition they create a remarkable revenue model. At the moment, WeChat’s competition outside China such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber as well as Line are behind the curve on this front, even though some have started on the path to becoming greater platforms. “The reason chat apps are widening beyond communications is to develop a sustainable monetisation strategy,” said Neha Dharia, a senior analyst with a focus on messaging at London-based research firm Ovum. “Chat apps are moving away from being simply a provider of communication tools chat, voice and video) to becoming a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms as well as content consumption.” WhatsApp, the biggest messaging app on earth with 1.3 billion every month active users, introduced a business version in India very early this week. “Based on research, we realize that people WhatsApp to talk to businesses. make business messaging more convenient for people and much more productive for businesses,” a WhatsApp spokesman said in response to ET’s questions. Whatsapp Business is a separate app from Whatsapp Messenger, aimed largely at giving a direct communication platform to small businesses, many of who may be using WhatsApp already. Whilst Whatsapp has placed the service free, it may extend it to much larger businesses with added features such as analytics, in which it could charge a usage fee at a later stage, as a result creating a revenue model, segment watchers said. This actually also is geared at raising subscriber connect that it can leverage for future monetization of its other services. The bigger agenda – and a more crucial one – for these corporations is to get active users to spend far more time on the app or services and also make it viable for income generation, based on analysts.”Each and every technology company is competing for consumer stickiness, interaction as well as time invested on the app, and in order to keep them within the app’s ecosystem they’re widening themselves to turn into platforms. Just being messaging applications offering cost-free services certainly won’t be a strong revenuegeneration model,” said Jayanth Kolla, founder of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.Any lingering questions on App Alternative, find out even more right here.