Hey. Brady here.
If there’s a grandpapa super app, it would be WeChat.
The concept was first coined by BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis in 2010 to describe a closed ecosystem of applications. (RIP all old BlackBerrys.) But the execution, as we know now, took place when WeChat made mini programs a part of its app.
Plus, the fact that it also offers a convenient payment channel gives people a reason to use the app every day.
The model of being present for nearly all major daily consumption needs became something to emulate. Facebook tried. Grab and Gojek now have their own take on this.
Tencent, which operates WeChat, has been a visible target in a regulatory crackdown in China. For a while, the company couldn’t release updates for its apps, and were halted from publishing new ones. You’d think that maybe, just maybe, that would have dented WeChat’s growth.
Surprisingly, not so. Jiaxing had the story. You can read it here.
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