Photo sending service Snapchat announced on Monday that it will be implementing its first monetization features since the app was first released. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has told TechCrunch that they will be adding in-app purchases and microtransactions.

The exact details of what these purchases would include aren’t finalized but the company has been experimenting with a number of options. It is clear, however, that the transactions will not include the ability to save snaps sent by other users.

“In-app transactions will come first,” Spiegel told TechCrunch. “We think we can build really cool stuff people want to pay for.”

Users of Snapchat take and send over 200 million pictures and video every day.  This is up from 150 million a day two months ago. At that rate of growth it’s understandable how the app is quickly moving to monetize users.  Snapchat also just received $60 million in funding from International Ventures Partners, which can be seen as both a boon for the company’s prospects and a cushion to get its monetization plan off the ground.

There is an interesting parallel here for gamers, who’ve shown penchants for sending video clips and screen shots to their friends. These habits could transfer to mobile games as we see more hardcore, competitive mobile games appear. Just as sharing and streaming are becoming key features of next-gen consoles and PC games, we may see those become major social activities for mobile gamers.

Source: TechCrunch