萝莉视频

Scooping aside, in order to work at Aarti and Sumit Rastogi鈥檚 ice cream shop in India, you have to have proficiency in , a social messaging app.

Co-founder Aarti Rastogi has a hearing impairment, so 90 percent of the business鈥� communication is through the Facebook-owned messaging app, which is currently free for normal and business users.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the lifeline of our business,鈥� said Sumit Rastogi, the director of the ice cream shop.

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The Bengaluru company is one example of the 5 million monthly active users of WhatsApp鈥檚 a that was rolled out about 22 months ago (not to be confused by WhatsApp Business API, a paid service for large enterprise customers). WhatsApp Business customers range from a nail salon in Mexico, to a S茫o Paulo-based business that makes turbans, to a small jewelry store in Yogyakarta, Indonesia that works on wedding bands.

The rallying of demand in developing regions like India and Mexico is positioning as more than just an enhancer of a business, but instead a unique, needed part of the plan.

To paint a picture of WhatsApp鈥檚 current reach, more than 1.5 billion people in over 180 countries use the WhatsApp main app, according to Amrit Pal, a product manager over at WhatsApp. In India, it鈥檚 especially popular. More than 400 million people use the app every month in the country, Pal said.

The flagship characteristics of the business app include business profiles to enhance professionalism, messaging tools that aid with fast answers to frequently asked questions, and labels, so payments and follow-ups feel more manageable.

Still, Bryss del 脕ngel Mart铆nez, the founder of Nails Bryss, a nail salon that also offers training for manicurists, said the platform 鈥渁t first鈥� was something that not everyone was used to.鈥� Appointments were scheduled by phone or directly at the salon, she said, but adaption came with time.

Now, she said, in the one year since WhatsApp Business has been part of Nails Bryss鈥� business plan, its client portfolio has almost doubled. Martinez is thinking of opening up a second store in the near future.

Other startups that cite WhatsApp as a key business component include and , both born out of Y Combinator鈥檚 most recent batch. The latter, for example, said during a pitch that it would acquire customers through WhatsApp to build out its online pharmacy in India.

, a partner at , said there are no specific YC materials focused on WhatsApp, but collaboration on the service happens between companies in the batch.

WhatsApp was used as 鈥渁 way to get around high SMS and data costs, and it just stuck,鈥� she continued.

WhatsApp didn鈥檛 offer much information on how it is working directly with startups, but the company did explain that it has formed partnerships with local organizations, such as Startup Mexico or Startup India, to tap into talent.

did not respond immediately for comment. explained that one-in-three Mexican startups they house develop their business atop the WhatsApp platform. About 48 percent of Mexican startups that are part of the Startup Mexico community in WhatsApp Business say they’ve been able to hire more employees thanks to growth driven by the app, the incubator said.

Rodrigo Maldonado, a program coordinator at Startup Mexico, said they partnered with WhatsApp “because everyone in Mexico who has a smartphone, has WhatsApp.” The next order of business was teaching startups under their umbrella how to best optimize the app, which Maldonado says has been a work in progress.

WhatsApp Business tackling markets in developing countries comes with its own set of nuances. Its parent company鈥檚 reputation, for one.

Facebook, which , has a track record of volatile third-party business management.

A few weeks back, Facebook suspended 鈥渢ens of thousands鈥� of apps using improper data, . The social media company also released a blog post saying that the apps were removed for multiple reasons such as 鈥渋nappropriately sharing data obtained from us, making data publicly available without protecting people鈥檚 identity or something else that was in clear violation of our policies.鈥�

Privacy concerns by WhatsApp鈥檚 parent company has left India legislators in flux. , the Indian government is delaying WhatsApp Pay鈥檚 launch in India, due to lack of data processing compliance. , and while the payments feature has already racked in 1 million users, it needs government approval before rolling out the system more widely. Right now, , an electronic payments startup, seems to be filling this gap.

Beyond compliance concerns, over-reliance on a singular app is never a good idea, according to Y Combinator’s Cheung. For example, what if the Business app goes from free to not?

, a professor at t who has been studying platforms for over 25 years, says we shouldn鈥檛 be worried.

鈥淔acebook is a money machine because of the deep interactions among its users it can sell very targeted ads with high prices,鈥� he said, while on a ferry before a board meeting. 鈥淚t can afford to subsidize WhatsApp and keep it free.鈥� The WhatsApp team also said that the features of the app will remain free.

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