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Showing posts with label whatsApp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whatsApp. Show all posts

Wednesday, 10 May 2017

07:45

India with 200 mn users leads WhatsApp video calling in total minutes per day

India with 200 mn users leads WhatsApp video calling in total minutes per day

India leads WhatsApp’s video calling market in terms of total minutes, new data from the copy indicates.

“India is the top country for video calling minutes with a total of over 50 million video calling minutes per day,” the company said in a statement.
Last year in November 2016, WhatsApp announced the rollout of its WhatsApp video calling feature with more than 1.2 billion monthly active users globally across platforms such as iOS, Android and Windows.
The report also goes onto say that WhatsApp sees a total of over 340 million video calling minutes per day, globally along with users making over 55 million video calls per day.
WhatsApp in India has currently 200 million monthly active users. The Facebook-owned messaging app is also expected to soon make a foray into digital payment services starting with India and is looking to hire a digital transactions head for the country.
In February, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton had met IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss ways in which the company could contribute to India’s vision for digital commerce.
According to a job advertisement on WhatsApp’s website, the company is looking for a candidate with technical and financial background, who also has an understanding of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), BHIM payments app and Aadhaar number.
The job responsibilities would include collaboration with banks to resolve WhatsApp user issues and being “an advocate for the users of our digital transactions service to the rest of the company”, it added.
When contacted, a WhatsApp spokesperson said the company is keen to understand how it can contribute more to the vision of Digital India.
“We’re exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users,” the spokesperson added.

Source:IBEF 
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Sunday, 6 November 2016

08:47

Android malware targets bank and social media apps

Android malware targets bank and social media apps
Cybersecurity experts are warning about new Android malware that can steal the login credentials from 94 different mobile banking apps around the world. The malware masquerades as a Flash Player app that, once installed, appears in a phone launcher, says Fortinet. If a phone owner launches the app they see a fake Google Play screen asking for permissions that grant the malware administrator rights.

Then, when a banking app is opened, the malware creates a fake overlay, tricking victims into entering their login credentials. Among the bank apps being targeted are those of NAB, ING Direct and Citi, as well as PayPal.

In addition, the malware is also taking aim at social media apps. When users launch Facebook, Whatsapp, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and more, they are faced with a screen overlay asking for payment card details.

Meanwhile, due to its ability to intercept SMS communications, the malware is also able to bypass SMS-based two-factor authentication. 

Fortinet says users can disable the device administrator rights through their phone settings and then uninstall the fake Flash Player.

Source:finextra.com

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Tuesday, 19 January 2016

23:01

WhatsApp is now free and ads-free

WhatsApp is now free and ads-free

New Delhi: There is good news for WhatsApp users—the popular messaging app will not charge a fee after one year of use. “We’re happy to announce that WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees,” the company said on Monday in a blog post .

WhatsApp has always been free to download and use for the first year. In fact, original users of the app, who joined WhatsApp when it started out six years back, were given a free lifetime service. But in recent years, the company introduced a subscription fee of 0.99 cents after the first free year. Technology website Recode reports that it may be a few weeks before the payments infrastructure is completely out of all versions of the app and if you’ve already paid the 99 cents for the year then there won’t be a refund, though subscription fees will cease immediately.

The announcement also implies that the Facebook-owned WhatsApp may potentially be forfeiting hundreds of millions in annual revenue. The messenger app that allows a quick, easy and inexpensive way to send messages, photos and videos, particularly popular in Europe, parts of Asia and South America, has seen incredible growth over the past few years and is just weeks away from hitting the billion user milestone, according to figures reported by Statista . It has currently 990 million users and growing.

Although the fee is negligible, the company admits that it has harmed its growth, particularly in developing countries where access to banking services is not so good. According to a report in The Guardian , developing markets are a key focus area for Facebook and WhatsApp since Messenger, Facebook’s home grown messaging service, has a strong penetration in the western markets, particularly the US. In contrast, WhatsApp leads the way in developing nations, including Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa.

The blog post reiterates the same: “As we’ve grown, we’ve found that this approach hasn’t worked well. Many WhatsApp users don’t have a debit or credit card number and they worried they’d lose access to their friends and family after their first year. So over the next several weeks, we’ll remove fees from the different versions of our app and WhatsApp will no longer charge you for our service.”

Does this mean then that the company will stay afloat by generating revenue via third party advertising?

“The answer is no. Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from. That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. We all get these messages elsewhere today—through text messages and phone calls—so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp, while still giving you an experience without third-party ads and spam.”

This strategy sounds uncannily familiar to the strategy adopted by Facebook for its Messenger service—overhauling it to make it a one-stop shop to communicate with people and businesses across the world.

Interestingly, while both Messenger and WhatsApp are different in appearance, it is these differences that lend themselves to strengths that are complementary. WhatsApp relies more on the old-school SMS messaging, while Messenger is a hip, instant messaging service replete with rich media. “Messenger works better in places that have good data connectivity, while WhatsApp, by contrast, has achieved much of its success by appealing to price-sensitive consumers who want to avoid paying a fee for every text-message sent.”

It also makes perfect business sense for Facebook to roll out WhatsApp as a free service and focus on chat apps, as messaging apps account for 91% of all time spent on mobiles and desktops by US users according to a recent report by Comscore.

Facebook purchased WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion and since then has been on a growth trajectory. Being part of the Facebook stable allows WhatsApp access to the social network’s powerful infrastructure, which includes financial and technical support that it needs to grow, while WhatsApp gives Facebook access to a nearly 1 billion user base. Together, the two can become a formidable combination.
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Monday, 28 December 2015

12:50

Product crack: State Bank of India's Samadhaan app

Product crack: State Bank of India's Samadhaan app

This week, State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, launched a mobile app, State Bank Samadhaan, for its customers. The app provides customers with information on various products such as deposits, advances, and tax related details. It also comes with an equated monthly instalment (EMI) calculator.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Currently, the app is available only for Android users and can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. The bank is planning to develop it for iOS users as well. Once installed, you can start using the app directly. On the home page, you will get 12 options, which include deposits, advance, ATM, tax and complaints. This app doesn’t allow you to do any financial transactions and can only be used to get information. For instance, by clicking on the deposit option, you will be taken to a page with details about the bank’s interest rates, an FAQ section and videos. You can also share this information with your contacts on WhatsApp. The app allows you to request for bank documents such as account statement. Those who have housing and educational loans can ask for interest certificates. Once you send a request through the app, the documents will be sent instantly to your registered email address. You can even look for an SBI branch from the app. If you have a complaint, you can upload it on the app and track it as well.

When Mint tried the app, most of the features such as information on interest rate of deposits and advances were not available or the request didn’t go through. However, some basic features such as EMI calculator and the option to share information went through instantly .

OTHER SBI APPS

So far, SBI has launched at least six financial and non-financial apps with various features. The State Bank Buddy, State Bank Anywhere and State Bank Freedom allow you to carry out financial transactions, and SBI Quick and State Bank Samadhaan allow only non-financial transactions. The Anywhere mobile app lets a user do Net banking transactions. You can transfer funds, make bill payments, book a fixed deposit, and view bank account details.

State Bank Buddy is a mobile wallet, which can be used by the bank’s as well as other customers. Once you download the app, you have to register and then load money into the wallet. You can then start using it to send money to those in your contact list.

The SBI Quick app is basically missed call banking. It allows you to give missed calls or send an SMS with pre-defined keywords, to pre-defined mobile phone numbers to make balance enquiries, get account mini-statements, block ATM card, and also enquire about car and home loans. The service is currently free of charge, but available only to some of the bank’s customers.

State Bank Freedom app allows balance enquiries and money transfer. State Bank Secure OTP is a one-time password (OTP) generation app for verifying transactions. This is an alternative way to getting an OTP on the app instead of through an SMS.

Source:BankingUpdates
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