Facebook could be gearing up to roll out new Messenger features, like in-store payment for goods and services and new chat options.
According to The Information, comments in the code of the iPhone version of Messenger suggest that Facebook’s about to make a whole lot more effort at becoming a retail hub, which makes sense given the enormity of its user base.
The company has shied away from making any move into payments before now – and Mark Zuckerberg has categorically said he wants no part in becoming a payments processor.
In January this year he said, “On payments, the basic strategy that we have is to make it — especially in products like Messenger where the business interaction may be a bit more transactional — to take all the friction out of making the transactions that you need.”
With other payment tests including integrated Buy buttons, moving the experiment in-store too would make some sense, though it isn’t immediately clear exactly how this would work.
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Facebook does seem to be open to partnerships, however.
Other comments uncovered suggested that the app will also soon get a ‘secret conversations’ option – again, this isn’t clear whether that’s a reference to encrypted chats, or simply some way to hide certain conversations on a device within Messenger.
We’ve asked Facebook for comment, but historically the company is pretty tight lipped about products until they’re fully-formed, so don’t hold your breath.
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