[steaknsteak]

Definitely. People are reluctant to buy $1 or $2 mobile apps that would be really useful, even though they would never notice the money was gone. Just because most apps are free. Also, most people lose more than they gain by deleting their facebook or anything else. Tech people tend to care about privacy because of all of the terrible implications and possibilities that come with all your personal info being freely bought and sold, but the vast majority of people will never (at least consciously) suffer any ill effects of government tracking or targeted ads.

[globuous]

I remember reading this a few years back a feeling a little guilty while having such a good laugh: http://theoatmeal.com/blog/apps

[seanwilson]

WhatsApp is free for the first year then a small amount each year to continue. Maybe that works.

[narsil]

I believe this is no longer the case and WhatsApp is free to use now.

Regardless, the free trial -> paid version is a popular model, even if 1 year is a long "trial"

[seanwilson]

I'm curious how the "first year for free" business model works out. I'm guessing smaller companies couldn't survive on that as it's too long to wait until you start getting revenue?

I paid a few dollars for WhatsApp once or twice to keep it working after the first year. It was such a small amount I didn't care. I remember some of my friends freaking out about it though, like they were being tricked.