A

PROJECT REPORT
ON
“CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARDS WHATSAPP”
Submitted to Panjab University, Chandigarh

In the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the

award of the degree
Bachelor of Business Administration
Session (2018-19)
Submitted To: Submitted By:
Mrs. Rakhi Malhotra Jaskeerat Arora
16089610
Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, Ludhiana
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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that project work titled “A study on Customer Satisfaction Towards Whatsapp”
submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Business
Administration is a record of my original work. The empirical findings in this project are based
on information collected by me and not copied from anywhere.

JASKEERAT ARORA

16089610

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“It is not possible to prepare a project report without the assistance & encouragement of other
people. This one is certainly no exception.”

On the very outset of this report, I would like to extend my sincere & heartfelt obligation towards
all the personages who have helped me in this project. Without their active guidance, help,
cooperation & encouragement, I would not have made headway in the project.

I would like to thank Dr. Mrs. Charanjeet Mahal (Principal) for providing us
better infrastructure and other inputs for study.

I gratefully acknowledge Mrs. Rakhi Malhotra and the faculty members, for
guiding me with attention and care. She has provided me with valuable insights during the entire
project work and her co-operation at every step. Plus, she has taken pain to go through the
project and make necessary corrections as and when needed.

I also express my deep gratitude to my teachers, parents and friends who

provided me the help and cooperation in understanding this project.

JASKEERAT ARORA

16089610

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project on “A study on customer satisfaction towards Whatsapp” is
based on views of the population of Ludhiana. This project is submitted by Jaskeerat Arora, a
student of BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) final year of Guru Nanak Girls College,
Ludhiana, under the provisions of Panjab University. This project is completed under the
supervisionof Mrs. Rakhi Malhotra.

It is further certified that this is bonafide work the candidate and matter embedded in this project
has not been submitted to any other university either for award of any degree to the best of my
knowledge. The data sources have been duly acknowledged.

RAKHI MALHOTRA

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. No. Contents Page no.

1 Introduction

2 Review of literature

3 Research methodology

4 Data analysis and

interpretation
5 Findings

6 Limitations

7 Recommendations

8 Conclusion

9 Bibliography

10 Questionnaire

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INTRODUCTION

6
1. Introduction

WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform instant messaging service for smartphones

without having to pay for SMS. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images,
video and audio media messages as well as their location using integrated mapping features. The
client software is available for Google Android, BlackBerry OS, and Apple iOS, selected Nokia
Series 40, Symbian, selected Nokia Asha platform, Microsoft Windows Phone and BlackBerry
10.

WhatsApp Inc. was founded in 2009 by Americans Brian Acton and Jan Koum (also the CEO),
both former employees of Yahoo!, and is based in Mountain View, California. The company
employs 55 people.

WhatsApp, a dream come true of talking to a friend sitting oceans apart through radio-waves,
means absolutely free. What used to cost a somewhere between Rs. 5-15 per message was
brought down to being free by online messaging like Way2SMS.This was still found to be
cumbersome by people mainly due the involvement of internet which required logging or signing
in a personal computer or laptop. This is where WhatsApp walked in to make life easy for
Smartphone users. It leveraged on the increasing popularity of the term, ‘Stay Connected’.

Where people wanted staying in touch with their friends and loved ones for as low a price as
possible, WhatsApp removed the price aspect from it. It seems this application builders
leveraged on the growing population of ‘Short message service (SMS)’ users.

Competing with a number of Asian-based messaging services (like LINE, KakaoTalk, WeChat),
WhatsApp handled ten billion messages per day in August 2012, growing from two billion in
April 2012, and one billion the previous October. On June 13, 2013, WhatsApp announced that
7
they had reached their new daily record by processing 27 billion messages. According to the
Financial Times, WhatsApp "has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international
calling on landlines."

2. Introduction to Social Messengers:

2.1 WHAT IS MOBILE APPLICATION?

Mobile applications (apps) have been gaining rising popularity due to the advances in
mobile technologies and the large increase in the number of mobile users. Consequently,
several app distribution platforms, which provide a new way for developing,
downloading, and updating software applications in modern mobile devices, have
recently emerged.
A mobile application is a software application designed to run on smartphones, tablet
computers and other mobile devices. They are usually available through application
distribution platforms, which are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating
system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and
BlackBerry App World.
Some apps are free, while others must be bought by usually, they are downloaded from
the platform to a target device, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone or
Windows Phone, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktops. For apps
with a price, generally a percentage, 20-30%, goes to the distribution provider (such as
iTunes), and the rest goes to the producer of the app.
Instant messaging has become the killer app on mobile as smart phone adoption has
grown across the globe and the Indian scene is no exception. Three out of every four
smart phone user in India is now high on mobile chatting making the market a lucrative
one for chat app companies.

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 WhatsApp reigns supreme among mobile chat app with about 76% of smart phone users
in India using it to text each other, revealed a recent study on smartphone usage in India
by Informate Mobile Intelligence.

2.2 DIFFERENT SOCIAL MESSENGER APPs:

1.WhatsAPP:

WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform instant messaging service for

smartphones. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images, video, and
audio media messages. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images,
video, and audio media messages. The client software is available for Android,
BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, iOS, Nokia-Series 40, Symbian (S60), and Windows
Phone.
1. Facebook:

Facebook is an online social networking service. Facebook was founded in February

2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University
students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The
founders had initially limited the website's membership to students of the University of
Harvard, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and
Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities
before it opened to high school students, and eventually to anyone ages 13 and over.
Facebook now allows anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old to become a
registered user of the website.

2. WeChat:

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 WeChat (Chinese: 微信; pinyin: Wēixìn; literally "micro message") is a mobile text and
voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China, first released in
January 2011. The app is available on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone,
and Symbian platforms.
WeChat provides multimedia communication with text messaging, hold-to-talk voice
messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, photo/video sharing, location sharing,

and contact information exchange. WeChat supports social networking via shared
streaming content feeds and location-based social plug-ins ("Shake", "Look Around", and
"Drift Bottle") to chat with and connect with local and international WeChat users.

3. Twitter:

Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service that enables users to
send and read "tweets", which are text messages limited to 140 characters. Registered
users can read and post tweets but unregistered users can only read them. Users access
Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. Twitter Inc. is based in
San Francisco and has offices in New York City, Boston, and San Antonio.

4. BBM (BlackBerry Messenger):

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) is a proprietary Internet-based instant messenger and

videotelephony application included on BlackBerry devices that allows messaging (and
videocalls for BlackBerry 10 smartphones) between BlackBerry users. It was developed
by the manufacturer of the BlackBerry, BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as
Research In Motion Limited (RIM)). Messages sent via BlackBerry Messenger are sent
over the Internet and use the BlackBerry PIN system, so communication was only
possible between BlackBerry devices until 2013. There are 70 million BBM users

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 worldwide and BlackBerry infrastructure handled 30 petabytes of data traffic each month
by early 2013.With the release of BlackBerry Messenger 7.0 in December 2012, voice
chat was introduced. The new feature is called BBM Voice Call.
BBM was officially released on iOS and Android on 21 October 2013. 5 million
downloads were recording in the first 8 hours of its release. In total, the app had over 10
million downloads on the first day. At 24 February BlackBerry officially confirmed BBM
for Windows Phone.

5. Skype:

Skype is a freemium voice-over-IP (VoIP) service and instant messaging client that is
currently developed by the Microsoft Skype Division. The name originally derived from
"sky" and "peer".
Skype was first released in August 2003; it was written by Estonian developers Ahti
Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn, Danish Janus Friis, and Swedish Niklas
Zennström, who had also originally developed Kazaa. Skype had 663 million registered
users as of the end of 2010. It was bought by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion.

6. LINE:

Line is a Japanese proprietary application for instant messaging on smartphones and PCs.
Line users exchange text messages, graphics, video and audio media, make free VoIP
calls, and hold free audio or video conferences. Line, launched in Japan in 2011, reached
100 million users within eighteen months and 200 million users only six months later.
Line was originally developed as a mobile application for Android and iOS smartphones.
The service has since expanded to BlackBerry (August 2012), Nokia Asha (Asia and
Oceania, March 2013), and Windows Phone (July 2013). The application also exists in
versions for laptop and desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS
platforms.
7. Other:

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Viber: Viber is a proprietary cross-platform instant messaging voice-over-Internet
Protocol application for smartphones developed by Viber Media. In addition to text
messaging, users can exchange images, video and audio media messages. The client
software is available for Mac OS, Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS, Series 40, Symbian,
Bada, Windows Phone, and Microsoft Windows. Viber works on both 3G/4G and Wi-Fi
networks. It first requires installation on a phone in order to work on a desktop operating
system environment. Viber reached 200 million users as of May 7, 2013.

It was founded and co-owned by four Israeli partners: Talmon Marco, Igor Megzinik,
Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha. Talmon Marco serves as its CEO. On 14 February 2014,
the startup was acquired by Rakuten for $900 million.
SnapChat: Snapchat is a photo messaging application developed by Evan Spiegel and
Robert Murphy, then Stanford University students. Using the application, users can take
photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of
recipients. These sent photographs and videos are known as "Snaps". Users set a time
limit for how long recipients can view their Snaps (as of December 2013, the range is
from 1 to 10 seconds), after which they will be hidden from the recipient's device and
deleted from Snapchat's servers.

Tango: Tango is third-party, cross platform messaging application software for

smartphones developed by TangoME, Inc. in 2009. The app is popular for offering video
calls over 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi networks,in addition to video calls, is also optimized for
voice calls, texting, photo sharing, and playing games.
Tango has more than 0 million registered users as at March 2013 and, among Android
devices, it is the 12th most downloaded app. It is rated by PCMag as "the simplest mobile
chat application out there, with a good range of support."
Tango is primarily geared towards Android devices. The app is also compatible with iOS,
Windows Phone 7, and PCs. Tango has partnered with Aviary to provide photoediting
capabilities.

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2.3 THE FUTURE OF MOBILE MESSAGING:

Premium content, brand development, gaming, and in-app payments offer revenue
generation possibilities.

Most apps are focusing on growing its user base and improving the core product with
new features, hoping the money will follow. The market valuation of Twitter, the
acquisition of WhatsApp &Instagram by Facebook, and the offers for SnapChat from
Facebook and Google, suggest that this may be the right strategy, with user growth more
highly valued than revenues or profitability.
Like search and social applications before it, mobile messaging applications have not
been instantly lucrative. Advertising became the dominant business model in both of
these areas, but it is unlikely that advertising will be able to generate the mobile revenues
that it was able to do on the PC. The small form factor means display advertising can be
more irritating than relevant. Almost all mobile messaging applications are avoiding
advertising, and are exploring different ways of generating revenues. Four different
business models are being explored by market participants.
Charging for premium content such as wallpapers, stickers, and themes has emerged as
the de facto way to generate revenues. Not only does premium content improve the
customer experience, it is not intrusive and can be a way for brands to interact with
customers. Almost all apps are offering premium content in one way or another.,
Allowing brands to use the platform has emerged as a potential new revenue stream.
With official accounts, brands and merchants can connect and interact with fans and
customers in a personal and real-time fashion. The possibility of the integration of
location-based services such as iBeacons from Apple or Bluetooth Low Energy will
enable business to reach their customers at increasingly relevant times driving online and
offline purchases.

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Gaming and platform SDKs is another revenue stream that has proven to be lucrative for
both LINE and KakaoTalk. In-game purchases and the social nature of the platforms
offer a very sticky experience and is possibly the only revenue stream that builds an
ecosystem of users, developers, and business around the platform. The success of gaming
on mobile messaging suggests a real opportunity for these companies to develop into
fully fledged content distribution platforms, and further monetizing users. It is not a leap
to imagine mobile messaging companies offering music or television clips, and charging
content makers for referrals, or even offering full albums, books, or films.
The companies that expand beyond messaging and develop a content distribution
platform will win in this market .

The mobile messaging application market is possibly the hottest in technology right now.
As internet giants Google, Facebook, and Yahoo attempt to monetize users on mobile,
messaging applications are exploring a variety of different ways to generate revenues. It
is clear that the advertising model that worked so well in the PC era will not be as
successful on mobile. Instead, new innovative business models are emerging.
Three different ways to monetize users have emerged in the mobile messaging market;
distribution of premium content, the platform as a brand building tool, and gaming and
inapp purchasing. These monetization techniques take applications beyond the discrete
world of mobile messaging into the infinite possibilities associated with mobile
distribution platforms. Many apps use a variety of these monetization techniques, and
each technique has different regional dynamics. Stickers, for example, are far more
popular in Asia than they are in North America and Europe.
In today’s mobile world, generating revenue is almost of secondary importance to user
engagement and user growth, so a balance must be struck between monetization and
customer experience. The key to success for these companies will be to provide rich and
diverse content, and to build an ecosystem around the application. The platform must
provide much more than just messaging with friends.
This ecosystem will serve to build a sense of loyalty and stickiness, creating a barrier for
the user to leave for another application. The market opportunity is huge, according to
Ericsson, as there were 1.9 billion smartphones at the end of 2013 and by the end of 2019

14
 there will be 5.6 billion. For those companies that can attract and retain users, the revenue
potential is virtually limitless.

2.4 SOCIAL MESSENGER WAR:

A survey of 3,759 Android and iOS smartphone owners in the US, Brazil, South Africa,
India and China, carried out by mobile market research company On Device Research,
reveals that Facebook Messenger no longer leads in social messaging.

 WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the leading social messaging service on

mobile, according to a research by On Device.
 A survey found that 44 per cent use WhatsApp at least once a week, whereas just
35 per cent use Facebook messenger.
 The report also confirmed that social messaging apps – including WeChat,
Twitter, BBM and Skype – are the dominant way in which people communicate
on their phone.
 It found that 86 per cent use social messaging daily, while 73 per cent use their
phones for voice calls, 75 per cent use SMS messages, and 60 per cent use email.
 Social messaging app use in at least once a week; in US, Brazil, China, South
Africa, Indian smartphone - Owners popularity of WeChat is mostly driven by
China.

3. Introduction to WhatsApp

3.1 WhatsApp:

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WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform instant messaging service for
smartphoneswithout having to pay for SMS. In addition to text messaging, users can send
each other images, video and audio media messages as well as their location using
integrated mapping features. The client software is available for Google Android,
BlackBerry OS, and Apple iOS, selected Nokia Series 40, Symbian, selected Nokia Asha
platform, Microsoft Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10.
WhatsApp Inc. was founded in 2009 by Americans Brian Acton and Jan Koum (also the
CEO), both former employees of Yahoo!, and is based in Mountain View, California.
The company employs 55 people.
WhatsApp, a dream come true of talking to a friend sitting oceans apart through radio-
waves, means absolutely free. What used to cost a somewhere between Rs. 5-15 per
message was brought down to being free by online messaging like Way2SMS.

This was still found to be cumbersome by people mainly due the involvement of internet
which required logging or signing in a personal computer or laptop. This is where
WhatsApp walked in to make life easy for Smartphone users. It leveraged on the
increasing popularity of the term, ‘Stay Connected’.
Where people wanted staying in touch with their friends and loved ones for as low a price
as possible, WhatsApp removed the price aspect from it. It seems this application
builders leveraged on the growing population of ‘Short message service (SMS)’ users.
Competing with a number of Asian-based messaging services (like LINE, KakaoTalk,
WeChat), WhatsApp handled ten billion messages per day in August 2012, growing from
two billion in April 2012, and one billion the previous October. On June 13, 2013,
WhatsApp announced that they had reached their new daily record by processing 27
billion messages. According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp "has done to SMS on
mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines."
As of November 10, 2013, WhatsApp had over 190 million monthly active users, 400
million photos are shared each day, and the messaging system handles more than 10
billion messages each day. In a December 2013 blog post, WhatsApp claimed that 400
million active users use the service each month.

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On February 19, 2014, Facebook Inc. announced it is acquiring WhatsApp Inc. for
US$19 billion. Facebook will pay $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares and
$3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp founders and employees
that will vest over four years .

3.2 BACKGROUND

History

An invention by ‘two guys with an experience of 20 years at Yahoo! Inc.’ as per the
official website, WhatsApp stirred hard the broth BlackBerry (BB) had tried to, but could
only cater to BlackBerry users, in the form of BB Messenger. No wonder, the success of
WhatsApp is much greater (in terms of number of users) compared to BlackBerry
Messenger. It is supported by many platforms – Windows, BlackBerry, Android etc. It
has even managed to enter the territory of Apple, which is otherwise difficult to cross for
a non-Apple-made application.
‘What’s up’, the on-going homonym pun, somehow makes it easier for the youth to
connect with WhatsApp (Intelligent naming).
From being a multi-purpose, user-friendly, connectivity application to allowing sharing
of not only messages but also images, audio files and videos, WhatsApp is a rage. The
reason is pretty obvious – From downloading it to using it, WhatsApp is free!
But then WhatsApp does cost you something. It demands an internet connection, on the
smartphone handset, to be in use. Just out of curiosity, I wonder then why should one not
be as crazy about using G-talk or Yahoo messenger or AOL as well. Some of us must
have heard of the ‘kik’ application which followed in the footsteps of WhatsApp and was
a declared success. Why, all of these are free too, with the internet connection? That
makes them as well equipped as WhatsApp.

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What, then, distinguishes WhatsApp from the other free of cost applications?

TECHNICAL

WhatsApp uses a customized version of the open standard Extensible Messaging and
Presence Protocol (XMPP). Upon installation, it creates a user account using one's phone
number as the username (Jabber ID: [phone number] @s.whatsapp.net). WhatsApp
software automatically compares all the phone numbers from the device's address book
with its central database of WhatsApp users to automatically add contacts to the user's
WhatsApp contact list. Previously the Android and S40 versions used an MD5-hashed,
reversed-version of the phone's IMEI as password, while the iOS version used the
phone's Wi-Fi MAC address instead of IMEI. A 2012 update now generates a random
password on the server side.
WhatsApp is supported on most Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Nokia, and Windows
smartphones. All Android phones running the Android 2.1 and above, all BlackBerry
devices running OS 4.7 and later, including BlackBerry 10, and all iPhones running iOS
4.3 and later.
Multimedia messages are sent by uploading the image, audio or video to be sent to an
HTTP server and then sending a link to the content along with its Base64 encoded
thumbnail (if applicable).

PRIVACY

A major privacy and security problem has been the subject of a joint Canadian-Dutch
government investigation. The primary concern was that WhatsApp required users to
upload their mobile phone's entire address book to WhatsApp servers so that WhatsApp
could discover who, among the users' contacts, is available via WhatsApp. While this is a
fast and convenient way to quickly find and connect the user with contacts who are also

18
using WhatsApp, it means that their address book was then mirrored on the WhatsApp
servers, including contact information for contacts who are not using WhatsApp. This
information was stored in hashed, though not salted form and without "additional"
identifying information such as a name, although the stored identifying information is
sufficient to identify every contact.
On March 31, 2013, the telecommunications authority in Saudi Arabia, the
Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), issued a statement
regarding possible measures against WhatsApp, among other applications, unless the
service providers took serious steps to comply with monitoring and privacy regulations.
One of the drawbacks of WhatsApp is that the user does not need to send a friend request
to send messages to another user. However, users can block numbers on WhatsApp.

3.3 ACQUISITION:A $19 billion bet by Facebook

On February 19, 2014, Facebook announced it would be acquiring WhatsApp for US$19
billion. It will pay $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares and an additional $3
billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp's founders, Jan Koum, Brian
Acton, and employees that will vest over four years subsequent to closing. The
transaction is the largest purchase of a company backed by venture capitalists ever. The
deal happened only months after a venture capital financing round valued the business at
almost $1.5 billion.
At a keynote presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2014,
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp was
closely related to the Internet.org vision. According to a TechCrunch article, Zuckerberg's
vision for Internet.org was as follows: "The idea, he said, is to develop a group of basic
internet services that would be free of charge to use — “a 911 for the internet.” These
could be a social networking service like Facebook, a messaging service, maybe search
and other things like weather. Providing a bundle of these free of charge to users will
work like a gateway drug of sorts — users who may be able to afford data services and
phones these days just don’t see the point of why they would pay for those data services.

19
This would give them some context for why they are important, and that will lead them to
paying for more services like this — or so the hope goes."

3.4 Why Use Whatsapp (Advantages)

It may be any one of the following –

 No Hidden Cost: Once download the application, can use it to chat as much as
one want. Send a million messages a day for free! WhatsApp uses Internet
connection: 3G/EDGE or Wi-Fi when available. First year FREE! ($0.99
USD/year after).
 Multimedia: Send Video, Images, and Voice notes to friends and contacts. The
plethora of cool and funky emoticons offered by WhatsApp.
 No need to add buddies: Adding a friend on WhatsApp is simple. Your contacts
who already have WhatsApp Messengeron his/her smartphonewill be
automatically displayed and connected to you via WhatsApp.
 No need to Login/Logout : WhatsApp doesn’t require any ‘Sign-in’ or ‘Log out’.
No more confusion about getting logged off from another computer or device.
With push notifications WhatsApp is ALWAYS ON and ALWAYS
CONNECTED.
 Group Chat: Enjoy group conversations with one’s contacts.
 No International Charges: just like there is no added cost to send an international
email, there is any cost to send WhatsApp messages internationally. Chat with
friends all over the world as long as they have WhatsApp Messenger installed and
avoid those pesky international SMS costs.
 Say no to PINs and Usernames: Why even bother having to remember yet
another PIN or username? WhatsApp works with phone number, just like SMS
would, and integrates flawlessly with existing phone address book.

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  Offline Messages: Even if someone miss push notifications or turn off phone,
WhatsApp will save messages offline until retrieve them during the next
application use.
 And Much More: Share location, Exchange contacts, Custom wallpaper, Custom
notification sounds, Landscape mode, Precise message time stamps, Email chat
history, Broadcast messages and MMS to many contacts at once and much much
more!

There can be a lot more than these. For some, it’s the ease of clicking the WhatsApp icon,
going to the chat with a friend and seeing when was the last time he/she was seen online
onthe app. For others, it’s the cool way in which one can update his/her status without
really bothering everyone on his/her friend list to become aware of the same by a pop-up
in their respective profile ( A friend’s status can be known only by going to ‘View
profile’).
The telecom industry did not take long to realize that ‘Conference call’ was a much
needed value added service. Hence, accepting the customer demands, WhatsApp too
added a fascinating feature of ‘Group Chat’ in Feb 2011. Not only is it easy to create a
group on WhatsApp, it is equally easy to quit the group too.
WhatsApp has constantly been adding more and more handsets to its kitty over the time
and informing users of the same through its website and blog.
But fame is a double-edged sword. And so it happens that there has been a rumour taking
some rounds; recently there was a hoax about WhatsApp charging a fee for its usage to
the users whose screen logo did not turn red.

- WhatsApp tops Nielsen India Consumer Ranking:

Mobile messenger ‘WhatsApp' emerges as the most engaging mobile app; nearly half
(47%) of the respondents engage with smartphone messenger service WhatsApp and
spend 24 minutes a day chatting making it the top smartphone app for urban Indian
consumers. While social networking website Facebook (2nd), reaches out to over half
the respondents (51%), engagement time on the smartphone app is 10 minutes a day.

21
 This is the findings of Consumer Rankings for India launched recently, by Nielsen, a
global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy.

3.5 Why WhatsApp is so popular in India:

According to recent reports, WhatsApp’s active user base has more than doubled to 430
million active users from nearly 200 million users in August 2013 and now handles
around 50 billion messages (sent and received) daily. So in the industry it is believe that
with such an accelerating growth volume, the cross-platform messaging platform may
soon overtake the SMS!

On its growing popularity, users have cited different reasons such as its ease of use, great
speed offered by the application and multiple device compatibility. Still others feel that
the technology offers a cost effective way of sharing things with people in any part of the
world.

1. WhatsApp has been the top driver for smartphone penetration in India.
2. The big appeal of this instant-messaging app that works across all smartphones was
that it was nearly free - barring the low cost of a basic mobile data plan - unlike SMS
text. WhatsApp did to SMS what Skype did to international phone calls.
3. WhatsApp now packs in more features, while remaining clean, fast, simple. It's the
preferred way to share multimedia now -- pictures, audio and video. MMS -- a version of
SMS once used for multimedia -- is dead.
4. Its most popular feature today is its handling of groups. That one thing takes it into the
realm of social media.
5. Tata Docomo too has joined hands with WhatsApp developers and launched exclusive
WhatsApp data packsto offer unlimited WhatsApp usage to its subscribers for less than
20. “We have seen a decrease of about 20 per cent in SMS traffic in the recent past after
our subscribers started to use mobile application like WhatsApp,” the spokesperson for a
telecom company said.

3.6 WhatsApp Reaches 450 Million Active Users

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This chart illustrates the incredible growth of smart phone messaging service Whatsapp.

4. Strategy on WhatsApp

4.1 IT STRATEGY ON WHATSAPP

WhatsApp has been a major contributor of 25% decline of SMS in Spain. Chinese We Chat has
over 300 million users. Over 90% of Korean smart phone users use Kakaotalk. These are just a
few examples of the rising trend of the mobile instant messaging (MIM).

Instant messaging as such is not a new thing (remember ICQ?), but there are certain reasons why
it has had its resurrection now:

1. Phones are increasingly more about data than talking.In developed countries nearly
every new phone sold is smart phone. Smart phones are increasingly more about being
smart than phone. There is app for that, now also for the basic phone features (talking and
texting).
2. That data is getting faster.
New 4G LTE (Long term evolution) phones will enable high-speed data for mobile
phones. This opens new opportunities for what kind of content we can exchange in MIM
platforms.
3. Facebook is so huge that it is already mass broadcasting. If you are average Facebook
user sending your status update, the odds are that the message will be seen by your
family, friends and colleagues plus countless of people you do not even know about. This
is great, but serves more of people´s need for vanity and instant recognition.The most

23
 meaningful conversations happen with the people you know. Same phenomenon has been
also reason for the success of Path.4.
4. There is always need for 1-to-1 communication
Some might argue that Facebook message does the trick. However the challenge is that
Facebook is already flooded with so many messages, it is not that reliable way to catch
people (at least not all of them). Phone has been relevant for so long because you can be
quite certain that your message is received. Although Facebook has increased the number
of “friends”, it has not really increase the number of “real friends”. The amount of those
real friends is limited and many of interactions with those people we want to keep
private.
5. World is getting smaller
Majority of MIM applications work internationally. The bread and butter of Telcos profit
margins has been charging for international calls and roaming. MIM applications do not
have those international boundaries. You want to communicate with your friends no
matter where they geographically are.
6. World is getting more visual
Although SMS-messages have been relatively cheap, telcos are still taking quite big
premium with multimedia messages. With MIM applications you can send whatever data
possible and the because of the point 2 the alternatives are actually increasing all the
time. Basic SMS- type of messaging is just the beginning for MIM applications and there
will be probably lots of innovations in what kind of communication there will be.

4.2 WhatsApp SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:
 Loyal customers
 Market share leadership
 No need to log
 Group Chat
 Allow send videos, pictures, voice notes

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  You can put profile picture
 No need to add friends
 No need PIN or user number
 Available for all platforms

Weaknesses:
 Not diversified
 Weak distribution network
 To access the account can only be paid by credit card only
 Only works with a data plan or Wi-Fi

Opportunities:

 Online
 Advanced technology
 Recognized application
 Modernization of people
 Increased demand for smart phones

Threats:

 Competition
 Product substitution
 Similar applications and free

4.3 WhatsApp - MICHAEL PORTER’S FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

1. Intensity of EXISTING Rivalry

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Fast industry growth rate – When industries are growing revenue quickly, they are less
likely to compete, because the total industry size is also growing. The only way to grow
in slow growth industries is to steal market-share from competitors. Fast industry growth
positively affects.

Relatively few competitors- Few competitors mean fewer firms are competing for the
same customers and resources, which is a positive for Whatsapp. "Relatively few
competitors (Whatsapp)" has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight
into it. "Relatively few competitors (Whatsapp)" will have a long-term positive impact on
the entity, which adds to its value.

2. Barriers of ENTRY

Strong distribution network required – Weak distribution networks mean goods are
more expensive to move around and some goods don’t get to the end customer. The
expense of building a strong distribution network positively affects Whatsapp.
Strong brand names are important - If strong brands are critical to compete, then new
competitors will have to improve their brand value in order to effectively compete.
Strong brands positively affect Whatsapp.

Patents limit new competition-- Patents that cover vital technologies make it difficult
for new competitors, because the best methods are patented. Patents positively affect
Whatsapp. "Patents limit new competition (Whatsapp)" has a significant impact, so an
analyst should put more weight into it.

Advanced technologies are required - Advanced technologies making it difficult for

new competitors to enter the market because they have to develop those technologies
before effectively competing. The requirement for advanced technologies positively
affects Whatsapp.

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3. Bargaining Power of CUSTOMERS

Large number of customers - When there are large numbers of customers, no one
customer tends to have bargaining leverage. Limited bargaining leverage helps
Whatsapp.

Product is important to customer - When customers cherish particular products they

end up paying more for that one product. This positively affects Whatsapp. This
statement will have a short-term negative impact on this entity, which subtracts from its
value.

4. Bargaining Power of SUPPLIERS

High competition among suppliers – High levels of competition among suppliers acts
to reduce prices to producers. This is a positive for Whatsapp. "High competition among
suppliers (Whatsapp)" has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into
it. This statement will have a short-term positive impact on this entity, which adds to its
value. "High competition among suppliers (Whatsapp)" is an easily defendable
qualitative factor, so competing institutions will have a difficult time overcoming it.
"High competition among suppliers (Whatsapp)" will have a long-term negative impact
on this entity, which subtracts from the entity's value.

5. Threat of SUBSTITUTES

Substitute has lower performance - A lower performance product means a customer is

less likely to switch from Whatsapp to another product or service.

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Substitute is lower quality – A lower quality product means a customer is less likely to
switch from Whatsapp to another product or service.

4.4 PESTLE ANALYSIS

 Political

The popular free unlimited service Whatsapp might be blocked in Saudi Arabia 'within
weeks', local newspaper Aleqtisadiah reported.
Country's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) claimed
that the service doesn’t comply with local rules and regulations.

 Economic

Favorable economic environment

 Social

Age – Nowadays, whatsapp is used by in between 20 to 40 years of age. Earlier people

used text messages, that is, SMS, but nowadays they have started using it for
communications with their friends and family. People can also send voice messages,
images, as well as video through whatsapp. As we know, whatsapp is available in free of
cost for 1 year. And for accessing data, one needs data plant to send and receive
messages.

 Technological

Compatibility - The compatibility for WhatsApp starts from Nokia S40 phones, the least
one apps-compatibility wise. After this its compatibility increases to Nokia S40 Symbian,
S60, and Android/iOS/BB OS/Windows, etc.

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Interface – Whatsapp interface is quite easy and simple to handle. Whatsapp launches
updates frequently to make its interface more appealing and user friendly but mainly its
interface depends on type of platform who are using.

Bandwidth – With just texting option, whatsapp does not take much bandwidth. Only
downloading may force it to use high network charges, but if you are texting only, then
whatsapp takes very less bandwidth.

Security – One need to have working registered phone numbers to use whatsapp. The
apps scans contact list and searches for people who already use it. One can chat with
them, but blocking options is also there for security. If onedoesn’t want to chat or contact
that annoying person in one’s contact list, one can block them. Blocking someone means
that one don’t receive messages from the person one blocked.

 Legal

Whatsapp legal factors consist of:

Acceptance – It is an agreement between Whatsapp Inc., the owner and operator of

www.whatsapp.com , the whatsapp software including whatsapp messenger and user of
software. Using the service, user agrees to the terms of service and privacy policy.

Whatsapp Service – The terms of service applies to the all users of whatsapp.
Information provided by users to whatsapp, may provide links to third party websites.

Access – Whatsapp permits user service only for personal use and doesn’t not grand
permission to resend or change use of access for service. The user will not be able to
duplicates or copy any part of service.

Grand Strategy

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  Grand strategies, often called master or business strategies provide basic
direction for strategic actions. It Indicate the time period over which long-range
objectives are to be achieved.
 Many firms involved with multiple industries, businesses, product lines, or
customer groups usually combine several grand strategies.
 Any one of these strategies could serve as the basis for achieving the major long-
term objectives of a single firm.

The four alternatives of grand strategy are as follows:

 Stability – Stability means to remain the same size or to grow slowly and in a
controlled fashion. In case of Whatsapp stability,Whatsapp is available on every
operating system of smartphones.

 Global Brand Strategy– Whatsapp should make available in country specific

languages.

 Product Line Development–

1. Allow requesting other system, that is, user should be able to contact other
people who are not in his phone directory.
2. It should be able to make calls.
3. Screen sharing.

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