Facebook linked with group video chat app launch - Mobile World Live

Facebook linked with group video chat app launch

06 JUL 2017

Facebook is building a group video chat app with the working name Bonfire, very similar to an app called Houseparty, The Verge reported.

Bonfire was recently shown to employees and could be launched later this year.

The move could be a result of Facebook feeling the heat of competition from Houseparty, which closed in on 1 million users in September 2016 and is a top 200 app in Apple’s US App Store, according to App Annie.

If the Bonfire reports are true, the strategy is similar to Facebook successfully cloning many of Snapchat’s popular features for its own properties, particularly Instagram.

However, not all its standalone apps have had the same luck, including Slingshot and Bolt, two attempts to compete with Snapchat which were scrapped.

The move is also in line with Facebook’s mission to “bring the world closer together,” as CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently noted in a blog post.

Another app called Talk could also be in the works, which would potentially encourage younger people to communicate with their grandparents via video chat, The Verge stated.

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Saleha Riaz

Saleha joined Mobile World Live in October 2014 as a reporter and works across all e-newsletters - creating content, writing blogs and reports as well as conducting feature interviews...More

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