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Well, you don't get 450 million potential users with a shipyard. Currently users are in high demand, so supply-and-demand, and prices. You know, black magic, they say.

If they can monetize 10% of whatsapp users for 100 usd per year, that's 4.5 billion, so that 20 billion will come back soon. Just the .99 USD App Store yearly fee nets them probably enough to run the thing.

Also, opportunity cost, grabbing those sweet-sweet innocent users from the table before others, probably worth something too.

It's scary how big these numbers are, how little difference we can perceive of them behind our screens. Probably the best way is via images like these: https://www.google.com/search?q=hong+kong+protest+phones&saf...



If they can monetize 10% of whatsapp users for 100 usd per year

Has any mobile user ever been monetized for $100/year, on any software ever...?


Makes total sense.

And I'm sure the Rapa Nui down in Easter Island also had some kind of self-consistent story to tell themselves too.




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