In English there is an acronym that in computer environments is usually used to answer trivial questions that could be answered in documents widely available on the net or, much more simply, could be avoided if the most basic rules of procedure were respected. These are the initials of the phrase "Read The Fucking Documentation” or, using an elegant translation: “read the damned documentation”. The advice, in this case, is valid for all those who cyclically repeat online or in print the news that the messaging application for smartphones "WhatsApp" has become paid.
WhatsApp it actually has a cost equal to 79 cents of euros long ago and the information is clearly stated in the software description in each App store. Just read. The confusion may perhaps arise from the different payment methods which, until now, were offered according to the platform for which the app is available (Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, Nokia S40 and Windows Phone).
Smartphone users Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), they paid – One-off – before you can download the software, everyone else downloads instead for free WhatsApp and use it for 12 months always without paying anything. Only then is the payment request triggered in order to continue using the application (0,79 euro cents each year). The only real novelty, which actually simplifies and standardizes the service subscription model, was announced by the company's CEO, Jan Koum, in an interview with Dutch journalist Alexander Klopping and reported by TechCrunch: “within the year” in fact and “only for new Apple users” (Apple users who have already downloaded the paid app will keep using it for free) the download and the first 12 months of service will be free of charge. You will pay, as in the case of other digital markets, only for the years following the first and only from the beginning of the second year.
Ultimately we must remember the contribution to the confusion derived from theappeal-hoax on Facebook which supported the introduction of a tariff for the use of WhatsApp for infrequent users: according to the text circulated via the social network, to avoid payment, the appeal had to be sent to at least ten contacts. Not only was WhatsApp's official denial not enough, but the hoax was recently re-proposed, even outside of Facebook.
