The main problem I see with this business model is not the primary characteristics of this model which sound like a rent. But I have a feeling that having such a model does decrease the drive to innovate.
In a pay-once model you always need to entice the customer with new features or open up entirely new markets. With subscription, the customer will basically pay for maintenance.
How would the world of cars have looked if it had a primarily subscription model (which will probably come in this area as well)?
So long story short, I find subscription model bad because it drives down innovation.
Just thinking out loud here, as I was considering something like this.
I can also not give up the WhatsApp account due to the social pressure. What if I would use a second phone, a cheap one, used only for the whatsapp (and some other essential but privacy invasive apps). I would not have that second phone always with me, but it would provide me access to the social network I need without feeling tracked or providing more data than needed.
I do understand that this doesn't fix exactly the issue presented here, but I already assumed that whatsapp data was already in Facebook's hands one way or another. But I would limit the amount of information that WhatsApp can track about me by having this application on a phone which does not really represent my full actions as i don't have it with me.
How would the world of cars have looked if it had a primarily subscription model (which will probably come in this area as well)?
So long story short, I find subscription model bad because it drives down innovation.