
Introducing Business Chat [video] - tosh
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/240/
======
palakchokshi
Here's some anecdotal evidence of how many businesses in India are using
Whatsapp as a business chat app.

1)As a notification system. Went to a tailor to get some shirts stitched. He
took my Whatsapp number so he could notify when I could come in for a fitting
then then for a pickup.

2)As a sales app with photos. Went to buy some clothes but they didn't have
the item in the color I wanted. I was looking for a specific color. The sales
guy said they had the color but not in stock. Took down my Whatsapp number and
messaged me photos of the item in the color I wanted when they had it in
stock. I saw the color and it was the right shade I wanted, asked him to keep
my size aside so I can come buy it.

3)As an information sharing app. I wanted to buy toothpaste for my 2 year old
and went to the local pharmacy. They had a toothpaste for babies but it didn't
say if the toothpaste contained flouride. I said I couldn't buy it without
knowing that. The pharmacist took down my Whatsapp number and told me he'll
find out and let me know if that brand contained Flouride. I left to pick up
groceries and in 10 minutes I had a message from the pharmacist with
screenshot of the relevant information he had dug up from the company's
website.

Business chat can be really helpful.

~~~
jakebasile
I just want to point out that another indication of WhatsApp's prevalence is
that you used the term "WhatsApp number" instead of "phone number".

~~~
palakchokshi
You're absolutely right. Its what the businesses are using. What's your
Whatsapp number? Very interesting indeed.

------
SomeCallMeTim
Knowing Apple, but not being able to see the video, one _huge_ question comes
to mind:

Will I be able to chat with my customers if they have an Android device or
Windows?

Because in most industries today, if you can't interact with your customers
with Android devices, you're cutting out half to 90% of your market. So that
means that Business Chat is yet another thing that I need to implement twice
over, one for Apple's walled garden, and once for the rest of the world (which
is mostly Android, but could also include chats directly to customers browsing
the store web page on Windows).

In which case why wouldn't I just use a cross-platform solution so I could
integrate it _just once_?

Correct me if I'm jumping to the wrong conclusion here.

~~~
vlozko
My 2 thoughts on the subject:

1\. To an extent, it's a solution that can't be fully cross platform.
Accessing messaging APIs is very limited on iOS and most apps that support a
customer support feature really just use a single compose email view.

2\. It's a matter of scale. Large companies can afford to spend the resources
on a custom, more cross platform-y solution. Not so much with smaller ones,
especially ones dedicated to iOS.

~~~
SomeCallMeTim
> it's a solution that can't be fully cross platform.

I call B.S. on that. There's nothing stopping Apple from creating an API that
anyone can register with, or even providing an XMPP gateway to allow
completely non-Apple platforms to connect.

Apple is choosing to keep their walled garden isolated. It's absolutely a
choice.

> Large companies can afford to spend the resources on a custom, more cross
> platform-y solution.

On scale: Cross platform is _cheaper_ than coding twice. Small companies
"dedicated to iOS" are Doing It Wrong. In 2017 it should be considered a best
practice to use cross platform development environments for any app
development. Between React Native, NativeScript, Xamarin, and yes, even
Ionic/Cordova, there are a ton of great options, and there's no compelling
reason for 95% of apps to go completely platform-native. And it's worse:
Environments like React Native make it cheaper to create for a single
platform, much less two platforms. And additional features and ongoing
maintenance are also half as costly. It's a win-win-win situation.

------
jitl
Here's the video description:

> Business Chat is a powerful new way for your customers to get answers to
> their questions, learn about and purchase your products, and engage with
> your existing support channels. Integrated into Messages and discoverable
> through Maps, Siri, Search, as well as your own app and website, Business
> Chat helps you build persistent, long-lasting relationships with your
> customers. See how to leverage built-in features like Apple Pay or calendar
> integration, as well as your own iMessage app in the conversation.
> Understand how to get started with Business Chat Developer Preview today.

This is a competitor product to Facebook Messenger for Business:

[https://www.facebook.com/business/products/messenger-for-
bus...](https://www.facebook.com/business/products/messenger-for-business)

[https://messenger.fb.com/](https://messenger.fb.com/)

Both can be viewed as an attempt to copy the success of WeChat as a business
channel:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat#Official_Accounts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat#Official_Accounts)

This makes more sense with the context of Apple also adding peer-to-peer
payments via Messages and ApplePay.

------
berryg
Interesting. And integration with Apple Pay. So, you are chatting with a
customer to help him/her with the sale of a product and while being in the
chat the payment can be made and your product delivered. Very nice.

------
ShannonAlther
As of 5 June 2017, 5:00 pm UTC-4, there was no video. I predict this is going
to be a unifying reviews/information tool for the Apple ecosystem.

But I hope it's also a competitor for Slack.

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Reading the description it is entirely a tool for companies to interact with
users from multiple Apple applications including Messages. They also had a
screenshot that it looks like they took down that seems to reaffirm this.

Edit: looks like I was looking at a different page so screenshot wasn't
removed just elsewhere: [https://developer.apple.com/business-
chat/](https://developer.apple.com/business-chat/)

~~~
madeofpalk
Like the Facebook Messenger product.

------
hobarrera
"Video Available Soon"

Am I the only one seeing this since yesterday?

------
splatcollision
Will they allow bots? Looking forward to hearing more details...

------
scryder
This looks like a preliminary move by Apple to establish itself as a viable
work computer.

Windows and linux environments currently appear to reign supreme over the
workplace, the former because of programs like Skype and outlook integration,
the latter for ease of development. I think Apple has a long uphill battle
attempting to break into the industry against the value-sell of existing
options.

~~~
cortesoft
I feel like 90% of the developers I know use Macs, even though a good chunk of
the time they are just SSHing to Linux machines to do their work.

~~~
criley2
And I don't know a developer who develops on a Mac. Seriously, the number is
0. I know a number of artists and designers with them though.

Ahhh, anecdotes.

~~~
haburka
Do you know less than 10 developers or something? Do you code for Microsoft?
Do you live in a country where its nearly impossible to get apple products?

~~~
michel-slm
or where the income level makes buying Macs prohibitively expensive

