Category: Apps

Code discovered in Messenger app hints at mobile commerce functionality

Facebook Messenger may soon become a hub for mobile payments. Code hidden within the application itself hints that Facebook may choose to make the app a mobile commerce tool, contrary to what the company had said in the past. Facebook has shown strong interest in mobile commerce, but had not intended to make the Messenger app into a new payment platform, opting instead to focus on other solutions. This may be changing, however, as Facebook begins to feel the need to compete with other companies in the mobile commerce space.

Facebook had been relatively disinterested in mobile payments in the past

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, had claimed that the company was not looking to break into the mobile commerce space in any considerable way. This is contrary to what the company has been dowing in the recent past, however, as Facebook has been making it possible for businesses to connect with consumers more dynamically and making it easier for consumers to purchase products online. Like other companies, Facebook has shown interest in the concept of social commerce, which involves consumers using social media sites to shop for and purchase products.

Social media companies are becoming more involved in mobile commerce

The company is not the only one within the social media space that is interested in mobile payments. Twitter, Pinterest, and several other companies have also begun breaking into the mobile commerce market. This market is quite competitive due to the numerous companies that have broken into the sector. Retailers are becoming very eager to embrace mobile shoppers, however, which is forcing social media companies to support mobile payments in order to better serve retailers using their services.

New features may be coming to Facebook Messenger

There are other features coming to Facebook Messenger as well, including a feature that could allow consumers to have “secret conversations.” This could operate in the same way as the “incognito” mode on web browsers, which prevents them from recording browsing history. Facebook has not yet commented on the discovery of the code within the Messenger app, but it may indicate that the company is beginning to grow more aggressive in the mobile commerce space.

The company has confirmed that the Android version of the application will save a user’s bandwidth.

Users of the Netflix app on Android devices who live in developing nations or who are starting to run short on what’s left of their data plan for the month will be pleased with a new feature that is headed their way and that is meant to make sure the streaming service doesn’t present as much of a drain on their data.

Due to the bandwidth required to stream the Netflix content, many people see it as a WiFi only experience.

In response to this and to make sure customers will be able to use the Netflix app regardless of where they are and how much data is left on their plans, data saver mode is being packed into the application. This will help to place a check on the amount of data that is consumed and can allow the user to choose the quality of the video they’d like to see. When this feature becomes available, it will be possible to reduce the amount of data used by dropping the quality down to a level that is quite blurry but still viewable.

The Netflix app will also reduce the amount of data it uses while it runs in the background.

Netflix announced the addition of the data saver mode, which has already been introduced to some of the Android apps, on its official blog. It confirmed that it is working on testing that feature as well as several others and that they will be rolling out in a more widespread way very soon.

This is one of several efforts the company is making in order to cater to a growing number of consumers who are watching video over mobile networks. The company is exploring various ways to make sure consumers can keep control over the experience they receive through Netflix, regardless of the device they’re using.

The goal is to make it possible for users of the Netflix app to maintain more control over their data usage while they do stream over mobile networks, so that they can stream a larger amount of video even when they have a smaller data plan, or they can choose to boost their video quality if they are subscribing to a more substantial data plan. The company has set a goal of May 2016 for the release of these new features.