VOX LOGO SOFTWARE

PayPal launched its version of a “ super app” in September 2021, though it seems to be limited to financial services for now. Microsoft allows third parties to develop apps within its Teams workplace. We have seen companies expand the services their apps offer into other areas, like how Uber, a ride-hailing service, now offers food delivery and grocery delivery within its platform. Africa’s super apps, which include M-Pesa and temtem, have similar origin stories, as does Latin America’s Rappi.īut the US, along with Canada and Europe, hasn’t been able to produce a super app of its own. Southeast Asia has Grab, which started out as a ride-hailing app, and Gojek, which began as a delivery service.

Alibaba’s AliPay, which began as a payment service, is also popular in China. WeChat’s success has inspired other super apps in Asia and other continents. “And then other partners will see value and create additional superpowers for your suit.” “You build a super app, which is that costume, that shell that has some core value,” Wong said.

VOX LOGO SOFTWARE

Jason Wong, an analyst on software design and development at Gartner, describes the concept as one company building “an open app for third parties to build these mini apps.” He likens super apps to how Batman and Iron Man have suits with core powers, and they add or remove different gadgets and functionalities to them as needed. For many people in China, WeChat is the internet. WeChat supplies and has control of the infrastructure that underpins this ecosystem, and the possibilities are almost endless. In some circumstances, they may only be able to access certain services through their WeChat accounts. They can hail a taxi, order food, pay bills, share videos, and even share their government ID. These days, users can do just about everything within WeChat. Then it added mini-programs, or third-party apps housed within WeChat, which vastly expanded its capabilities. It quickly expanded into payments and gaming (WeChat is owned by a Chinese company called Tencent, which is a major player in gaming). Since its 2011 release, WeChat has become much more than a messaging app for mobile devices. If you have family there, you probably use WeChat to stay in touch with them. WeChat has 1.26 billion users worldwide as of September 2021, and it’s enormously popular in China. But you might be familiar with WeChat, a Chinese messaging app that then-President Trump tried to ban along with TikTok in 2020. It’s possible you hadn’t even heard of them before Musk started talking about the concept. If you’re in the US, you probably haven’t used a super app before. But what his X can do, with its dwindling resources and polarizing owner, is still very much in question. The billionaire has said a few things about his plans and made what appear to be a few preliminary moves toward it. Musk clearly wants that to change, and he wants Twitter - er, X -to lead the way. They’re hugely popular in Asia, though you can find them in Africa and Latin America.

So-called “super apps” or “everything apps” (as Musk has referred to them) are apps that offer several services, usually including a payments component. Yaccarino mentioned that X will be “powered by AI,” though didn’t go into details. Along with that name change, there was the news that Twitter partnered with a stock and crypto trading firm, and Musk also founded an artificial intelligence company, called xAI, which may be part of his super app plans.

Twitter informed its business users on April 18 that Twitter, Inc., is now X Corp. If you’ve been following Musk’s quest to turn Twitter into X, these moves may not be a surprise, though they are perhaps the most aggressive yet. Twitter’s little company affiliation icons were switched over to the new logo, as was Musk’s profile image and CEO Linda Yaccarino’s profile banner.

Vox logo