Amazon takes on WhatsApp, WeChat, Google’s Allo with ‘Anytime’

WASHINGTON: Considering the importance of messaging apps in daily life and the success WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google’s Allo, WeChat and other such communication tools have achieved, retail giant Amazon is considering to tap the business by launching one of its own app.

Amazon.com is reportedly working on launching its own messaging app called ‘Anytime’, according to a report from AFTV News. The company has begun to survey its customers about potential features, although it’s not clear what form the final product will take.

The report explains that Anytime appears to be “an all-in-one feature rich service that could even rival social networks,” with a focus on messaging, voice and video calls, and photo sharing, with users able to apply filters to pictures and videos, @mention other users, use sticker and Gifs, and play games.

It further added: “Users would be able to call (audio and video) other individuals or groups, contact businesses to order products or make reservations. The images taken from the survey showed that the service would be secured and encrypted, and would work on a variety of desktop and mobile devices”.



Amazon has already made inroads into the messaging and communications market in recent months.

Earlier this year, it announced Chime, a video conferencing app for its business users, designed to compete with existing services such as Skype for Business or WebEx. Amazon also recently added voice calling and messaging features to its Alexa-equipped devices