Tencent was able to build WeChat in China more than a decade ago when the market there was still in flux, whereas in the west there are well-established players in individual sectors of the digital economy, such as Google in search, Facebook in social media and Amazon in e-commerce.Įvans doubts whether a western app would want to hand over control of its customer experience to a Musk-operated everything app. ![]() “There are lots and lots of people who ask for money through Twitter … a version of Twitter could make a commercial play with that,” she says, before adding: “You can have a really good product and a really good system, but if people don’t trust it, it’s not going to happen.”Īnalysts also point to structural barriers for an everything app in the western world. Large numbers of people already link to payment options on their account profiles, she says. Lucy Ingham, the head of content at FXC Intelligence, a data company, says there is a logic to Musk’s ambitions for the platform. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. “The idea that I would use an app that I find more jarring under Elon Musk’s ownership, that I would trust it enough to put my money into it, is fanciful.” skip past newsletter promotion “When it comes to banking, most of us want slightly boring apps where we put our money,” he says.ĭaisley also argues that Twitter has become a more toxic brand under Musk, which lessens its appeal as a financial service provider. The question is whether you would trust Musk with any payments process, Daisley says. He adds, however, that making payments a key part of a rebranded Twitter platform – a clear ambition of Musk’s – could work in the US, where the online banking and payments set-up is less well developed than in the UK and Europe. “It’s impossible not to be intoxicated by WeChat and the hold it has got on Chinese life, from messaging people to ordering cabs and paying for things,” he says.ĭaisley says it is a “slightly flawed premise” to presume that because everything apps have emerged and succeeded in China the same will happen elsewhere. Bruce Daisley, the former head of Twitter’s European operations, says he went on holiday to China in 2018 and was captivated by WeChat. It was reported last year that Microsoft has considered building a “super app”. ![]() ![]() Linda Yaccarino, Twitter’s chief executive, has said payments and banking will be a focus for the rebranded business.įascination with the everything app idea is not new and has been on western tech execs’ minds for years. ![]() Users can also easily send money to each other via WeChat messages. Users simply have to scan a merchant’s QR code to pay for a good using “cash” in their WeChat wallet, which is connected to a bank account. WeChat’s payment function allows users to pay for goods from within the WeChat app. “Imagine if you used OpenTable, Uber and Deliveroo entirely inside the Facebook app, using your Facebook identity and a Facebook payment account instead of a credit card – and then you paid for coffee and paid for the tube with it as well,” says Benedict Evans, a tech analyst. Elon Musk has said buying Twitter is ‘an accelerant to creating X, the everything app’.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |