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http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-possibly-working-on-new-stand-alone-messaging-app-called-anytime/
Messaging apps dominate the top charts of the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Despite there being dozens of different apps in the category, many of them have managed to garner millions of users. It appears as though Amazon wants a piece of the action and is working on their own stand-alone messaging app called Anytime.
Amazon has begun surveying customers about a new messaging service to gauge which features are most important to users. It's unclear how far along the new service is, but one customer said the survey seemed to imply it was a ready product.
Based on the images I've been provided, Anytime by Amazon seems to be an all-in-one feature rich service that could even rival social networks. The focus seems to be messaging, including voice and video calls, but there's also mention of photo sharing with @mentions, as well as filters for photos and video with "special effects and masks." Anytime will also provide tasks that can be done in groups, like playing games, listening to music, and ordering food.
The service claims to keep chats private and allows users to "encrypt important messages like bank account details." That's especially important because the service will also allow users to chat with businesses, make reservations, and of course, since this is from Amazon, allow users to shop.
The biggest hurdle of any new messaging service is getting people to use it when no one they know is using it. Anytime by Amazon will apparently let you "reach all your friends just using their name" without needing their phone numbers. It's unclear what that means exactly, but it could mean the app hooks into existing social networks and other messaging services.
Additional Coverage at:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/354966/report-amazon-readying-anytime-messaging-app
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/14/amazon-messaging-app-anytime/
(Score: 1) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday July 18 2017, @04:32PM (4 children)
... Interoperability. We already had it, but Facebook killed it. Any app that can operate cross platform and not get sued for API violations wins.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @04:45PM (1 child)
User base is king. Corporations are trying to lock in their users, if you let someone use your service they can piggy back encrypted data without a problem, then poof there goes your datamining resource.
I think we'll just have to wait the nightmare out until the issue of data privacy and security becomes like seat belts in cars. People will just expect it to exist, and they will expect it to "just work". I can't wait for the day when you trade public keys and can set data access based on each key. No more bullshit from some corporation about what you are allowed to do with your own data!! They should have been grateful to even have such a userbase and they should have treated people with dignity, but as Suckertrud demonstrated many times "users" are stupid cattle that deserve to be slaughtered.
Hey, conservative folks: if you really want to go after the real evil elitist types then why not get some grassroots campaign against Facebook? Then YOU can be the self-righteous warriors for justice and you'd even have us evil libruls cheering you on!
(Score: 1) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday July 18 2017, @08:36PM
Well said, I wish I could mod you up!
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @05:59PM (1 child)
(Score: 1) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday July 18 2017, @08:32PM
Yep. There were lots of users. There were also LOTS of clients that can handle multiple systems simultaneously.
Still are, actually, but you have to seek them out, and one thing you can count on is attempts to lock-in a userbase. Why one should have to fight for freedom is strange, when none of them really offer anything truly unique in my limited experience. So, AC, why is that? And, more to the point, why do I need an Amazon messenger app to find my friends across networks when presumably I know (or can easily find out) who they are and add them to the client of my choice? What does Amazon bring to the table that I can' t already do with a little bit of work on my own?
This sig for rent.