WhatsApp building new app for businesses
Snapchat-esque statuses aren't the only new thing the Facebook-owned company is exploring.
WhatsApp last week introduced its revamped Snapchat-esque Stories feature, but that's not all the Facebook-owned messenger has up its sleeve.
The company late last week announced it's working on a new commercial messaging platform specifically for businesses, according to the Hindustan Times.
"WhatsApp for Business is all about small and medium businesses, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton reportedly said, "where you have a small employee count and have a large customer count, and the goals are very different."
The new app will reportedly launch first in India, where there are over 200 million WhatsApp users. Many US companies are looking to get a slice of India's growing digital market -- most recently, Microsoft launched Skype Lite in the country last week. Facebook has also tried its hand at penetrating India, last year attempting to bring its Free Basics imitative to the country.
WhatsApp, which has over a billion active users, is also the latest to take a play out of Snapchat's playbook, last week introducing feature that lets you post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. Facebook, which bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, is trialling a similar feature over in Ireland.
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