[ad_1]
Chinese tech big Tencent has modified the title of its WeChat Work workplace collaboration app to WeCom, setting it up as a possible various to its messaging app WeChat forward of a US ban.
Tencent, registered the WeCom trademark on August 19, in accordance to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Two Tencent sources mentioned WeCom doesn’t fall below the scope of a ban on WeChat-related transactions within the United States from September 20, one of a sequence of US measures cracking down on Chinese tech companies and apps that Washington says are threats to nationwide safety.
Tencent declined to remark.
WeChat is an all-in-one cellular app that mixes messaging, social media, cost capabilities and different providers. Its so-called tremendous app is all however important for day by day life in China and boasts greater than a billion customers.
In the United States, WeChat is broadly utilized by Chinese expats and others to talk with mates and associates in China. It has a median of 19 million day by day energetic customers within the United States, in accordance to analytics agency Apptopia.
After downloading WeCom, customers can now hyperlink their WeChat account to it and add their WeChat contacts, a Reuters take a look at confirmed. WeCom customers can then message, create discussion groups, and even obtain digital cash from WeChat mates with out their WeChat contacts having to obtain WeCom.
There was no indication that Tencent has actively promoted WeCom within the United States. There has additionally been no surge in downloads of WeCom in current weeks, in accordance to Sensor Tower.
WeCom workaround
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is about to launch laws by Sunday clarifying which WeChat transactions will likely be prohibited below President Donald Trump’s govt order.
On Thursday, the US Justice Department mentioned Ross didn’t plan to goal individuals or teams who solely obtain or use WeChat to convey private or enterprise data.
Tencent workers within the United States have traditionally used WeChat Work to talk with the corporate’s headquarters in Shenzhen. Tencent has no less than 250 US-based staff.
Trump’s August 6 announcement of the ban on transactions associated to WeChat brought on a spike in downloads of WeChat and various apps by US residents. A bunch of WeChat customers has additionally sued to block the ban.
The WeCom cellular app has been gaining reputation in China, the place downloads within the first half of September rose 74 p.c from about 690,000 in the course of the first 16 days of August. Downloads have been 158 p.c increased than the identical interval a 12 months in the past.
But the app has gained little traction within the United States. New US installs up to now in September stand at about 3,000, unchanged from the identical interval in August and up from 1,000 in the course of the first half of September final 12 months.
Nina Wei, a Chinese entrepreneur in Seattle, mentioned she used WeCom largely to join with enterprise contacts in China however hadn’t used it a lot not too long ago as a quantity of initiatives had fallen aside amid deteriorating Sino-US relations.
She was unaware that WeCom was a possible workaround.
“I haven’t connected my WeCom to my WeChat yet as I was hoping to keep my work life and private life separate.”
© Thomson Reuters 2020
Is Android One holding again Nokia smartphones in India? We mentioned this on Orbital, our weekly know-how podcast, which you’ll subscribe to through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, obtain the episode, or simply hit the play button beneath.
[ad_2]
Source