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Google Shutting Down Allo; Now will Experiment with Rich Communication Services

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A few days ago, the news regarding the shutting down of Google Hangouts was circulating all over the internet, that later Google had denied completely. Now, again there is news that Google will soon shut down its two years old messaging app Allo.

allo
Image source: arstechnica.net

Allo is a Google Assistant empowered app, that was launched as a competitor for Apple’s iMessage, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and other chat applications. The device is built for both Android and iOS devices, enabled with end-to-end encryption. Google had launched Allo two years ago, as its another messaging app experiment, that too failed.

The vice president of Chrome, Comms, and Photos (at Google), Anil Sabharwal, said in a statement, “Google noted that Allo as a whole has not achieved the level of traction we’d hoped for.”

The app was facing some problems with its functionalities, so in April month this year, Google stopped investing over Allo and put a pause on its development and marketing work. The company now is entirely focusing on the Android Messages instead, and the Allo team has also been implanted to work on the same.

On the other hand, Verizon has come with its new messaging app RCS (Rich Communication Services), a combination of the best features of Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp, as one platform. Verizon has initially launched the app on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. The company is planning to replace the ages-old SMS (Short Message Service) by its new RCS app. Google has worked hard to get its own android chat, but it seems that now it is going to work with its competitor’s app, i.e. RCS.

And for Allo, it is already down for many users and will be discontinued by the March month next year.

Ezetap CEO Abhijit Bose Appointed as the WhatsApp India Head

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WhatsApp is planning to expand its business outside the U.S. and has appointed Abhijit Bose, co-founder and CEO of payment device maker Ezetap, as the head of WhatsApp India, in order to build a bigger team outside California. Facebook-owned WhatsApp confirmed the news on Wednesday and said that Bose will join WhatsApp in early 2019, and will be based in Gurugram. The main operation of Bose will be to constitute a team that will work towards curbing the spread of fake messages.

abhijitbose
Image Source: livemint.com

The Indian government had been putting pressure on the company to take some actions against the spreading of fake news in India, through the WhatsApp messaging app. Less than a month ago, the vice-president of WhatsApp, Chris Daniels, and the IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had a meeting, where Danial had discussed regarding the team he had constituted in India, that will start functioning soon against the spread of the fake news. Around two months ago, WhatsApp had also appointed Komal Lahiri as its first Grievance Officer for India.

Matt Idema, the chief operating officer of WhatsApp said, “WhatsApp (the company) is deeply committed to India and is excited to keep building products that help people connect and support India’s fast-growing digital economy. As a successful entrepreneur himself, Abhijit knows what it takes to build meaningful partnerships that can serve businesses across India.” Bose with his team will also help the companies of small to large scale with easy communication with their customers. The company is also focussed on creating and introducing new products for the Indian public.

“WhatsApp is special and can be a major partner for financial inclusion and economic growth in India. It’s not only how so many families stay in touch, but increasingly it’s how businesses are engaging with their customers. WhatsApp can positively impact the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians, allowing them to actively engage and benefit from the new digital economy,” said Bose.

Bose has been responsibly operating a huge business from past seven years, and he knows the technicalities of how to handle a big team. Appointing him as India’s head, WhatsApp has taken the first step to sustain its presence in India, as it was slammed by two notices from the Indian government for not taking any actions against the fake news spreading on WhatsApp. The second notice even stated that if WhatsApp will not put adequate checks in place, the govt will consider the messaging app as the supporter of rumour distribution and legal consequences will follow against the company.