Whatsapp messaging service returns after global outage

Whatsapp, a popular messaging service owned by Facebook Inc., suffered a global outage for about an hour on Sunday before the problem was fixed.

“Whatsapp users around the world experienced a brief outage today that has now been resolved,” a Whatsapp spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

The cause of the outage, about an hour long, was not immediately known.

In India, its biggest market with about 200 million of its billion-plus users, the app was down just a few minutes past midnight into the new year.

Users in other countries also complained of outages on social media.

Amazon enjoyed its ‘biggest’ Christmas yet, powered by a holiday sales surge for its Amazon Echo products, the company said last week.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant sold “tens of millions” of Echo devices worldwide and its Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were its most popular products across all categories, the company said in a press release.

Amazon does not disclose exactly how many devices it sells.

“Since Day One we have obsessed over what we believe our customers care about – incredible deals and low prices, fast and free shipping and a wide selection of top products – and we continue to provide all three, all the time,” said Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer Jeff Wilke.

“Thank you to the millions of customers and hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees all around the world who made this holiday better than ever before.”

Amazon Echo’s popularity on Christmas was corroborated by the Apple App Store and Google Play, two virtual stores for the IOS and Android mobile operating systems. Both placed Amazon Alexa — the voice-based assistant software behind Amazon Echo — as the most downloaded app on Christmas Day. Since both list popular apps in real time, it is likely the app was downloaded soon after people unwrapped their Amazon Echo presents.

Other best-selling items through Christmas on Amazon included former White House photographer Pete Souza’s book ‘Obama: An Intimate Portrait’, Fitbit Charge 2, the 23andme DNA Test, Philips Hue White A19 Single LED Bulb and Instant Pot DUO80.

Since Thanksgiving, more than a billion items were ordered from Amazon.