Uber, the famous taxi hailing service has become the norm in a lot of cities in the world, including Nairobi and has simplified hailing of a cab via an app. They have an app for Android, iOS , Windows Phone and a recent one for Windows 10 which means they have basically covered all of the popular platforms.
It seems that is not enough to acquire new customers and a larger user base as in select markets, some users will be able to request for a ride right on Facebook Messenger. On Messenger while chatting, you can either click on the more button (shown by three dots) and click on “Transportation” or clicking on a car icon that will appear on the chat menu.
https://www.facebook.com/Davemarcus/videos/10156429336080195/
The good thing about this development is that it will save you some steps when trying to request for a ride while chatting. If you are chatting with a friend on Messenger and decide to meet at a certain place, you only need to hail an Uber cab right in Messenger without disrupting the flow of the conversation. Quite neat indeed. To sweeten the deal further, anyone who will use Uber on Messenger will get a $20 Uber credit.
TechCrunch also reports that Uber will use Messenger as a “real-time customer service” tool and will be available to everyone in the US by Christmas. This is interesting since Messenger has Facebook M, its virtual concierge service and it was touted be only 1% finished by Facebook. We are now entering an age of convergence in technology and this experiment by Uber to tap into the 700 million strong user base in Messenger will give a glimpse of the connected apps future.
