ReportWire

Tag: whatsapp inc

  • WhatsApp adds rival in-app payment options in India commerce push | CNN Business

    WhatsApp adds rival in-app payment options in India commerce push | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    New Delhi/New York
    Reuters
     — 

    WhatsApp said on Wednesday that it will offer credit card payments and services from rival digital payment providers within its app in India, the latest bet by the Meta-owned service to boost commerce offerings in its biggest market.

    WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India, though regulators there have capped its in-app WhatsApp Pay service to only 100 million people.

    People shopping on WhatsApp could also pay using popular services like Alphabet Inc’s Google Pay, Paytm and Walmart’s PhonePe but only after being redirected outside WhatsApp.

    Payments via those rival services -— and any others that run on India’s instant money transfer system UPI — will now be possible directly within WhatsApp, Meta said in a blog post. New in-app options for credit and debit cards will also be offered.

    The additions bolster Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for business messaging to become the “next major pillar” of the company’s sales growth, an agenda that has assumed greater urgency as Meta’s core ads business and metaverse project have come under pressure.

    While WhatsApp Pay users will remain capped in India, there is no such limit on the number of users permitted to transact with businesses on WhatsApp using the other methods, a Meta spokesperson said.

    With some 300 million people spending about $180 billion via India’s UPI each month, the new transaction options could serve as a powerful lure to attract businesses to pay Meta for access to WhatsApp users.

    To date, WhatsApp has limited its end-to-end shopping experiences in India to pilot programs like that with online grocery service JioMart, run by India’s richest person, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and the metro systems in the cities of Chennai and Bengaluru.

    Moving forward, the new payment tools will be available to any company in India that uses WhatsApp’s business platform, which mainly serves large companies, according to the blog post.

    Meta is also expanding its Meta Verified subscription program to businesses globally, giving companies a mechanism to validate authenticity and elevate their content in users’ feeds, a separate blog post said.

    Monthly subscriptions will be available on Instagram and Facebook in a handful of countries to start and will expand to WhatsApp at a later date, costing $21.99 per Facebook page or Instagram account or $34.99 for both, according to the post.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • WhatsApp suffers major outage | CNN Business

    WhatsApp suffers major outage | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    Hong Kong
    CNN Business
     — 

    WhatsApp suffered a serious outage on Tuesday, preventing users across the globe from sending or receiving messages on the platform.

    The world’s most popular messaging app started having problems around 3 a.m. ET. As of 4:50 a.m. the service was back for some users, but appeared to remain patchy elsewhere.

    There were nearly 70,000 reports of outages on the platform, according to data from Down Detector, which tracks service disruptions around the world.

    The cause of the outage was not immediately clear. WhatsApp is owned by Meta, the global tech giant formerly known as Facebook

    (FB)    .

    In a statement, a company spokesperson told CNN Business that it had resumed service.

    “We know people had trouble sending messages on WhatsApp today,” the representative said. “We’ve fixed the issue and apologize for any inconvenience.”

    In a post on Twitter, Down Detector said that user reports indicated that WhatsApp had been “having problems” since 3:17 a.m. ET.

    WhatsApp is the world’s top messaging app, with more than 2 billion users. As much as 31% of the global population uses it, according to a 2022 analysis by digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

    Many users in India, WhatsApp’s biggest market, posted on other social media that they had experienced problems communicating through the app. The country has a whopping 400 million WhatsApp users.

    — CNN’s Manveena Suri and Swati Gupta contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • WhatsApp will now let you edit messages. But there’s a catch | CNN Business

    WhatsApp will now let you edit messages. But there’s a catch | CNN Business

    [ad_1]


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    WhatsApp is rolling out a long-requested new feature: message editing.

    The Meta-owned messaging platform on Tuesday said users will now be able to edit messages – as long as it’s within 15 minutes after sending. Adjusted messages will be shown in the chat with an “edited” label, without showing edit history.

    “From correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message, we’re excited to bring you more control over your chats,” WhatsApp said in a statement.

    The new WhatsApp feature follows a similar move by Apple’s iMessage last fall to let users edit messages up to five times within 15 minutes after sending. It appears WhatsApp’s edit feature will allow only one revision, according to a video the company posted to Twitter.

    WhatsApp users can access the edit feature by long-pressing on a message. Editing has begun to roll out globally and will be available to the platform’s more than 2 billion users in the coming weeks, the company said.

    WhatsApp has in recent years rolled out a number of privacy and commerce features for users and businesses operating on the app, as it seeks to boost usage and compete with rivals like Signal. In August, WhatsApp introduced the ability for users to check their messages without other people knowing they’re online.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • WhatsApp unveils new video messaging feature | CNN Business

    WhatsApp unveils new video messaging feature | CNN Business

    [ad_1]



    CNN
     — 

    WhatsApp will now let you record and send video clips directly in the messaging app, the Meta-owned platform announced this week.

    The instant video messages can be up to 60 seconds long, and are similarly protected with the app’s end-to-end encryption service.

    “We think these will be a fun way to share moments with all the emotion that comes from video, whether it’s wishing someone a happy birthday, laughing at a joke, or bringing good news,” the company said Thursday in a blog post.

    The new feature will be similar to sending a voice message on the platform, the company added, and there will also be a way to record the video hands-free.

    The company said the new update has begun rolling out on the app and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.

    Earlier this year, WhatsApp rolled out an update that lets users edit messages in the app (as long as it’s within 15 minutes after sending).

    The latest product update for WhatsApp comes on the heels of a better-than-expected earnings report from Meta. The company said Wednesday that revenue surged 11% year-over-year to $32 billion for its quarter ending in June, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” appears to be paying off for the social media giant.

    After a bruising 2022, shares of Meta stock have jumped more than 150% in 2023.

    [ad_2]

    Source link