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Messaging app Telegram is ready to take on Meta ’s WhatsApp and Messenger with a new exercise set of features shoot for at clientele as well as support for advert - revenue sharing . formally launch this weekend afteran earlier promulgation , Telegram Businessintroducesoptions like a customise start page , plus the power to define commercial enterprise hours and utilize predetermined replies , greeting and away messages , chatbots , ticket for chats , and more .
The features come just a twosome of weeks after Telegram laminitis Pavel Durov told the Financial Times in an interview thathe expected the app , which now has over 900 million users , to become profitable by 2025 .
Telegram Business is understandably part of that button , leading up to a future IPO , as it ’s an offer that requires drug user to sign to the devote Premium edition to access .
Telegram Premium is a bundle of upgraded feature that cost $ 4.99 per calendar month on iOS and Android and is also uncommitted as a three - month , six - month or one - class plan . ( Premium can be purchase in - app , too , via the@PremiumBoton Android , Desktop and Mac . This comes at a discounted rate , as Telegram does n’t have to share a commission with the app stores . )
Telegram Business will likely give Premium another extrusion as it offer tools and features that can be used by business enterprise customer without require to know how to encipher .
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For instance , line of work can select to display their 60 minutes of operation and localisation on a map , and greet customers with a customize starting Thomas Nelson Page for empty chats where they can choose the text and poser users see before beginning a conversation . interchangeable tofeatures available on WhatsApp , Telegram Business will volunteer “ quick replies , ” which are shortcuts to predetermined content that support formatting , links , media , stickers and files .
Businesses can also coiffure their own custom greeting messages for customers who engage with the company for the first time , and they can specify a point after which the greeting would be shown again . They can deal their availability using away message while the business is close down or the owner is on holiday .
Plus , the business can categorize their chats using dark recording label base on what chat brochure they ’re in , like deliverance , claim , orders , VIP , feedback , or any others that make sensory faculty for them .
In addition , business can produce links to visit that will in a flash open a Telegram chat with a request to take an natural action like tracking an order of magnitude or reserving a tabular array , among other thing . Business client can also add Telegram bots , include those from other pecker or AI assistants , to serve messages on their behalf .
The companionship said more features will roll out to Telegram Business in next update .
Durov already hinted at what these may admit , having told the FT earlier this calendar month that Telegram aims to set in motion AI - powered chatbots for business users .
As a whole , the features could introduce contest into a market where Meta ’s apps like Messenger , Instagram and WhatsApp have a hold on business communicating . Even Apple hascarved out only a small-scale recession in this distance , with itsApple Messages for business , used by caller likeShopify , Aramark , Four Seasons , Harry & David , Delta , American Express , Dish , Discover , Hilton , Lowe ’s , Wells Fargo , West Elm , Kimpton Hotels , Vodafone Germany , andothers .
Though admittance to Telegram ’s new business features requires a Premium subscription , there ’s no additional cost on top of that to start the raw options . ( They can be found under configurations > Telegram Business in the app . )
Beyond monetizing through Premium subscriptions , the company generates taxation through Telegram Ads ; itrecently announcedad revenue communion using toncoin ( a token on the net ton blockchain ) . Now the company has come out the revenue - share-out programme , it said on Sunday .
Previously , Telegram experimented with the short ton blockchainto auction usernamesand launcheda crypto wallet in all marketsoutside the U.S.
