WhatsApp Business app has over 3mn users: Facebook
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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No row over Maharashtra CM's post; leaders of Mahayuti will decide: Fadnavis
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday denied any row over the CM's post and asserted that leaders of Mahayuti will take a call even as counting of votes showed the saffron party-led coalition is heading for a landslide victory.
Addressing reporters, Fadnavis said the results of the Maharashtra assembly polls show that the state supports PM Narendra Modi and also thanked women voters.
"Opposition’s efforts of propagating a fake narrative, and polarisation of voters based on religion foiled by masses," said Fadnavis.
The Deputy CM said he succeeded in breaking the 'chakravyuh' of opposition due to the support of voters, the BJP team and party leaders.
With some leaders in BJP demanding that Fadnavis don the mantle of the next CM, the BJP stalwart said there was no row over the CM's post in Mahayuti- comprising BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP.
"Leaders of Mahayuti parties will decide (on next CM)," Fadnavis told reporters in Mumbai.
He said the people of Maharashtra have shown that the party headed by Eknath Shinde is the real Shiv Sena of Balasaheb Thackeray.
As per the poll trends, the BJP has won 10 constituencies and leading in 120.
