UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI PROJECT REPORT ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF WHAT’S APP BY MR. JITEN H MENGHANI ROLL NO 32 M.COM. (PART-1) ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-2014 PROJECT GUIDE PROF.MRS.K.S.FULMALI PARLE TILAK VIDYALAYA ASSOCIATION’S M.L.DAHANUKAR COLLEGE OF COMMERCE DIXIT ROAD, VILE PARLE (EAST) MUMBAI-400 057 Page | 1
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UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
PROJECT REPORT
ON
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF WHAT’S APP
BY
MR. JITEN H MENGHANI
ROLL NO 32
M.COM. (PART-1)
ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-2014
PROJECT GUIDE
PROF.MRS.K.S.FULMALI
PARLE TILAK VIDYALAYA ASSOCIATION’S
M.L.DAHANUKAR COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
DIXIT ROAD, VILE PARLE (EAST)
MUMBAI-400 057
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DECLARATION
I, MR. JITEN H MENGHANI OF PARLE TILAK VIDYALAYA
ASSOCIATION’S, M.L.DAHANUKAR COLLEGE OF
COMMERCE of M.COM (PART-1) (Semester- ) hereby
Declare that I have completed this project on
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF WHAT’S APP
in
The Academic year 2013-2014. The information
Submitted is true & original to the best of knowledge.
-----------------------
(Signature of student)
JITEN.H.MENGHANI
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ACKNOWLEGEMENT
To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the depth is so enormous.
I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh dimensions in the completion of this project
I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai forgiving me chance to do this project.
I would like thank my Principal, Dr. Madhavi.S.Pethe for providing the necessary facilities required for completion of this project.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide PROF.MRS.K.S.FULMALI whose guidance and care made the project
successful.
I would like to thank my college library, for having provided Various reference books and magazines related to my project.
Lastly I would like to thank each & every person who directly or indirectly helped me in completion of the project especially my parents & peers who
supported me throughout my project.
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Content
1. Introduction
2. History
3. Marketing Revolution
4. IT Strategy On WhatsApp
5. Technical
6. Security
7. Privacy
8. Open WhatsApp Project
9. Why Use Whatsapp
10. Whatsapp SWOT Analysis
11. Pestle Analysis
12. Grand Strategy
13. Future
14. Conclusion
15. Biography
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Executive Summary
SECTOR : IT Software
COMPANY : Whatsapp Inc.
SUBJECT : Strategy Management
SYNOPSIS
The Project Report is on applying IT strategy on Whatsapp Inc.
Working on this project introduced us to the IT strategy of Whatsapp. We are applied SWOT analysis,
Pestle Analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces model on Whatsapp.
Well, WhatsApp is a pun on What's Up.
WhatsApp Inc. is an early stage technology startup founded in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Because of better SMS alternative, Whatsapp is invented. Because we believe we can. Because someday very soon everybody will have a Smartphone.
The study of on this project helped me to know current market scenarios of Whatsapp Inc. and also the
variety of services that it offers to the users.
In today’s tough economic climate all organizations need to improve efficiency and, even in midsize
firms that usually mean coordinating large quantities of information. However, technology and
thinking has progressed and, billions of user nowadays using whatsapp.
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Introduction
Way back in 1876, a revolution was created by a 29year old genius – Alexander Graham Bell, in the form of a telephone. Sadly though, both, his mother and his wife were deaf. Most of us alive today, weren’t then. But we did get to witness a similar break-through though, in 2009– WhatsApp,
With 450 million monthly users and a million more signing up each day, WhatsApp was just too far ahead in the international mobile messaging race for Facebook to catch up, as you can see in the chart above that we made last year. Facebook either had to surrender the linchpin to mobile social networking abroad, or pony up and acquire WhatsApp before it got any bigger. It chose the latter.
Facebook recently said on its earnings call a few weeks ago that its November relaunch of Messenger led to a 70 percent increase in usage, with many more messages being sent. But much of that was likely in the United States and Canada where the standalone messaging app war is still to be won.Internationally, Facebook was late to the Messenger party. It didn’t launch until 2011 after Facebook bought Beluga, and at the time it was centered around group messaging where SMS was especially weak.
WhatsApp launched in 2009 with the right focus on a lean, clean, and fast mobile messaging app. And while the international messaging market is incredibly fragmented, it was able to gain a major presence where Messenger didn’t as you can also see in the chart above.
Unlike PC-based social networking, there is no outstanding market leader in mobile messaging. Still, WhatsApp absolutely dominates in markets outside of the U.S. like Europe and India.
WhatsApp was much more popular than Facebook in several large developing markets, according to data from a small survey conducted by Jana Mobile and published by The Information (which
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requested we remove the graph of the data). In India, Brazil, and Mexico, responses were 12X to 64X more likely to say WhatsApp is their most used messaging app, compared to Facebook. Those are big countries with tons of users that Facebook needs.
It’s also impossible for Facebook to acquire certain other Asian competitors like WeChat, which is the one hope of Chinese mega-giant Tencent to have a global consumer product.
So it’s clear that WhatsApp had strategic interest to Facebook, and we know that the two talked from time to time.We made the map above using data from Onavo, another Israeli-based company that Facebook acquired for — ahem — competitive intelligence. Because Facebook scooped up Onavo for more than $100 million in October, we don’t have access to active usage data anymore. The only thing outsiders can see are app store rankings, which imply download rates and not current usage.
So what happened in the last year? WhatsApp looks to have pulled so far ahead of Facebook in developing markets that there was no way to catch up. Mark Zuckerberg said in a post today that the app was on its way to reaching 1 billion users.
We’ve heard Facebook has been interested in buying WhatsApp for two to three years. We reported in 2012 that Facebook was in talks to acquire WhatsApp. But over the past year, it became clear that Facebook couldn’t afford not to pay whatever it would take to get WhatsApp on its team.
So the answer to Facebook’s problem ended up being $19 billion.
Apparently, that’s what it took to take Jan Koum and his backers at Sequoia Capital (the fund that Zuck originally spited) out of the market. If it waited any longer, that number probably would have just gotten bigger.
You might wonder how WhatsApp will ever earn back the money it cost to buy, but this acquisition wasn’t about increasing Facebook’s total revenue. It was about surviving the global shift to mobile.
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HistoryWhatsApp, a dream comes true of talking to a friend sitting oceans apart through radio-waves, meaning 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)’.
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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. 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?
It may be any one of the following –
1. The boom of 3G services followed by a fad for the same.
2. The plethora of cool and funky emoticons offered by WhatsApp.
3. Adding a friend on WhatsApp is simple. Anyone who possesses this application on his/her
smartphone and is present in your contact list at the same time is connected to you via WhatsApp.
4. WhatsApp doesn’t require any ‘Sign-in’ or ‘Log out’.
5. ‘What’s up’, the on-going homonym pun, somehow makes it easier for the youth to connect with
WhatsApp (Intelligent naming).
6. WhatsApp connects with its users in more than one ways – Facebook, Blog and Twitter, riding on
the success of social networking’s popularity.
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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 on the 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. It was on
declared on WhatsApp’s blog and everywhere else on the internet that the apparently alarming
message was a fake one. Whether this was a marketing gimmick by the parent company or an attempt
to kill competition by someone else is for the users to figure out.
Marketing Revolution
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Whatsapp Marketing is one of the platform for any business owner to promote his product. You get direct access to your customers. The most used messaging cross platform application by people since it’s launch. So today are going to have a look on Whatsapp Marketing strategies, so that small business owner can take the opportunity. I guarantee you, you will be cracking more sale once you start using Whatsapp Marketing for your business promotion.
Gone are the days of email and SMS marketing, now what we are talking about is the fastest and reliable promotional weapon for your business named Whatsapp. If you are aware of TRAI rules, you must know, you can not send messages to DND numbers. So what does it mean? It means SMS marketing is a waste now. What else? You are talking about Email marekting?
Well how many of the advt. emails you have reply since you started using your first email account? I doubt you ever did. This is what exactly am talking about. Email marketing is waste if you haven’t done your homework right.
Let’s not go there, we’re here to talk about Whatsapp only. So how does it work? How you can promote your business on Whatsapp. And what if you want to send your promotional message to thousands of potential customers. How to do that? Because Whatsapp do not allow to add that much of numbers at once and it is impossible to send the message to 1 thousand numbers one by one manually? So how it will be done?
Here you are: First off take a glass of water, site back and relax. I will explain each and everything. We are, Web development and Online marketing solution providers in India.We’ve have been into many major development project like WordPress core contributors. And this time we’re introducing Whatsapp Marketing for Small Business owners in India.
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So what we actually do is, set up a campaign to promote your business to the list of number, either provided by you or by us (It’s totally up to you). Now we got a bot which is attached to Whatsapp’s official version. We then be loading your promotional message and in in a few minutes that message will be hitting everyone’s Whatsapp app. Click here to know more about our Whatsapp Marketing service.
Prices are really low, Many IT Company, Hotels, Writers, and Small Businesses are have used our Whatsapp Marketing Service. They get new clients every day and their revenue is been increasing day by day.
We also offer an additional service for Whatsapp Marketing customers, if you are interested increasing your conversion rate and ROI. We also provide ROI Management Service.
IT Strategy On WhatsApp
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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
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most meaningful conversations happen with the people you know. Same phenomenon has been
also reason for the success of Path.
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.
Facebook Messenger Vs Whatsapp Messenger in 2012
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
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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.
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
o 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.
WhatsApp Reaches 300 Million Active Users
This chart illustrates the incredible growth of smart phone messaging service Whatsapp.
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Future
What lies ahead is known by none. The application is free today but may not be tomorrow or so the talks go around.
As far as the facilities provided are concerned, WhatsApp today does not provide the option of ‘Calling’ (although its logo has a phone receiver inscribed in the centre!). It may have this in future. With the technology growing in leaps and bounds, we may also expect a Skype-like free video call via WhatsApp. What has been a user-friendly, connectivity application till date may take a turn towards shared-information holding platform like Drop box, meaning people may not only be able to chat on WhatsApp but also share and store common data.
With the advent of ‘Cloud Computing’, the world has virtually shrunk down to the size of a room. It may not come as a surprise hence, to see such a large network-sharing support on WhatsApp someday.
Whether the mole will actually become a mountain someday is a mystery. Till then, we enjoy the present and await the surprises of future.
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Conclusion
WhatsApp on the other hand has been around for quite some time now and is being used by most and offers functionality like text based messaging and files transfers. But given enough time Line is a capable product and in the future it hold the potential to overtake WhatsApp, unless some new innovations is adopted by the world leader in messengers.