Amazon messaging app to rival Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp reportedly in the works

DUBAI: Amazon is reportedly surveying customers about features for a new messaging service, called Anytime, the retail giant is developing.
Reports from technology websites suggest the app would likely be an all-in-one service, enabling users to send messages, photos, and videos with special filters, play games both with individuals and groups, and more importantly engage with other Amazon services like shopping, music and food ordering.
With the app that Amazon, which recently completed its acquisition of UAE online retailer Souq.com, is developing, the e-commerce behemoth hopes to enhance its engagement with customers and keep them on the Amazon platform.
And should Amazon’s chat app take off amid a crowded market of messaging apps, the technology reports noted, Facebook would be most at risk.
Facebook is working hard to turn Messenger into a first point of contact between consumers and businesses, they said.
Facebook Messenger, which has now has more than 1.2 billion monthly users, is the most popular messaging app in 58 countries, including the United States and Canada.
Facebook said in February that 400 million subscribers use the voice and video calling features of Messenger and 1 billion messages are sent between people and businesses every month.
The mobile messaging service WhatsApp, another Facebook app, meanwhile said in January that they have more than 1.2 billion monthly active users.