For the first time, Apple made a move to transform Messages to such a platform that will have the potential to someday make returns as App Store. This has led them to throw it open to developers from third parties.
They have made Messages that appear on the iOS 10 that has just been released to be such that users are allowed to download GIFs and stickers and other apps like DoorDash, Kayak and Citymapper while in still in the chat interface.
There is no presence of App Store as contained in Facebook’s chat app Messenger, but it has plans to turn it into a money making venture and has started calling on businesses to get involved with their customers through the chatbots. For many businesses, they have two Messages option to jump from that are available on Facebook and on Apple’s messengers.
The two companies are all fighting to be like WeChat, a chat app that is very popular and successful in China that the people make use of when ordering for groceries, taxis or to even order or buy tickets online.
But Apple and Facebook are yet to tell us how they intend to curb the menace of spam that is prevalent in chat apps especially as witnessed in many developing nations.
From the records gotten, not less than 28% of people that makes use of SMS are victims of spammed messages on daily basis while making use of the chat apps. About a third of these cases are associated with phishing that prompts a user to click on a link that will indirectly lead them into exposing their phones to dangerous malware.
From the data gotten after 6, 000 users were surveyed by Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) from nine different countries, which is a trade body that is responsible for telcos and device manufacturers. It was recorded that phishing on SMS alone costs $680 million out of the $2million billion that is as a result of fraud which consumers and telcos pay on a yearly basis.
When it comes to Europe and America, the issue of spam is taken to be a mere nuisance, but this is not so for countries like Nigeria, South Africa, China, and Brazil (developing nations) that see the problem as a very chronic one.
The problem with the new move being taken by Apple and Facebook is that in trying to develop new messaging apps, they have failed to come up with how they intend to tackle the issue of spam that these people are facing at the moment.
The survey carried out by MEF showed that although SMS which is the major source of spam messages is still the most trusted by the users with WhatsApp coming in second.
