San Francisco, April 26 : Over 3 million people are actively using WhatsApp Business app, says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

He said this during the social media giant's Q1 2018 earnings call, the VentureBeat reported late on Wednesday.

WhatsApp Business, a standalone app separate from the other version of WhatsApp used by 1.5 billion people, was launched in January for Android users in six countries including India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Britain and the US.

WhatsApp Business competes with services like Apple's Business Chat and RCS messaging for Android and Facebook's own Messenger Platform, chat apps all built around connecting businesses with customers.

While WhatsApp Business is still being rolled out, conversational commerce through things like payments on Messenger will also be important to the social media giant, the report said.

"Over the next five years we're focused on building out the business ecosystems around our apps like Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger," Zuckerberg said.

"I think what you're going to start to see are people interacting with Pages that you follow, Pages on Facebook or Instagram. 

"You see content from that Page, and you can click through to a message thread, and then you can either get customer support or complete a transaction or do a follow-on transaction, and that will be very valuable for businesses so we view the payment in that context, not as the goal but as something that's helping the business and the person succeed at having a transaction or doing what they're trying to do," Zuckerberg noted.

WhatsApp Business, available on Google Play Store, makes it easier for companies to connect with customers, and more convenient for its users to chat with businesses that matter to them.

The new app, which is yet to come on Apple App Store in India, asks for a separate phone number from the one users have for their individual WhatsApp account.

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Washington DC: Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is on the verge of a landslide victory in the 2024 US election, as he leads with 267 electoral college votes, just three short of the required 270 to secure the presidency. In a triumphant speech, the 78-year-old thanked his supporters, calling the win a "magnificent victory for the American people."

Trump, who survived an assassination attempt earlier this year, remarked, "God spared my life for a reason," attributing his survival to this political moment. He described the Republican campaign as the "greatest political movement of all time," vowing to "help the country heal" and address key issues like border security.

Kamala Harris, the incumbent Vice President and Trump’s main opponent, currently trails with 214 electoral votes. Trump's victory has been bolstered by Republican success in battleground states, flipping seven swing states that had largely supported Democrats in 2020. So far, Trump has secured Georgia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, while leading in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada.

In addition to the presidency, Republicans are also on course to secure control of the Senate and are leading in the race for the House of Representatives, further cementing the party's dominance in the US political landscape.

Trump concluded his speech by thanking his running mate JD Vance, his family, and high-profile supporters like Elon Musk for their backing during the challenging campaign.