In a bid to take on WhatsApp Business, Apple has announced the rollout of its iMessage platform, which will allow consumers to chat directly with businesses on the messaging platform.
The iPhone maker, which announced the launch of this product, Business Chat, at its Worldwide Developer Conference, is scheduled to debut this spring, reports TechCrunch.
It is being said the new feature would allow consumers to talk to a business's service rep in iMessage, make payments via Apple Pay, and schedule appointments, depending on the business's needs.
This announcement comes a week post the rollout of WhatsApp Business, an app that aims to make it easier for approximately 1.3 billion users to chat with businesses that matter to them.
The app will help customers with useful information such as a business description, email or store addresses, and website.
Earlier in November, in a bid to appeal to the developer and business community, instant messaging platform Messenger rolled out its version 2.2, helping developers and businesses reach their customers in new and engaging ways, improve the quality of their messaging experiences and make it easier to build and iterate on the platform.
The new and improved version consists of a customer chat plugin, using which people can chat with businesses on their websites and on either of the versions of Messenger (web, mobile or tablet) and transition back and forth seamlessly without losing the conversation's history and context. This makes it easier for customers to continue the conversation with a business as per convenience.
On a related note, Apple said Business Chat will launch with the public release of iOS 11.3 this spring.
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