Mark Zuckerberg will never be able to fight Elon Musk, but the battle is being fought in the app store: Race to see who manages to launch the perfect super app. Elon Musk wants to do this with Twitter, now X, and Zuckerberg has been doing this for years on WhatsApp so subtly that we didn’t even notice.

This includes changing the name and logo as Musk disrupts the old Twitter in an attempt to turn the app into a do-it-all app. WhatsApp chose to do this graduallySo that we don’t notice. And it seems to be working, as the transformation in the league of super apps becomes increasingly evident.

What is a super app?

A buzzword lately is super app, after Elon Musk showed his intention to turn Twitter into exactly that. The term is not exactly new and basically describes applications. They serve everything and become an ecosystem in itself..

There are many examples in Asia Giants like WeChat or Grab accumulating in it a large number of services (especially the first one). WeChat is basically a chat app, but it has “apps” for everything. The payment service WeChat Pay is used to pay the electricity bill and make purchases in stores or online.

WeChat, especially its Chinese version, is the clearest example of a super-app or app for everything

in europe The closest thing to super apps are the Google or Apple ecosystemsWhile both fall short precisely on the part of messaging, where Google hasn’t found the key and Apple has imposed itself almost nowhere else outside the home with its iMessage.

For Musk and Zuckerberg, converting messaging apps has clear advantages: messaging apps make almost no money, so The more added services are added, the more room there is for monetization. The problem is that a super app needs to be super, huge and set itself above the rest; Which basically means there’s room for only one or two clear contenders.

WhatsApp’s long road to becoming a super app

Then from Facebook and now from Meta They want to take over WhatsApp This is something that has been evident since they acquired the app in 2014. After all, $19 billion is a huge number and they are expecting a return on investment that is impossible to achieve with subscriptions of less than one euro per year.

In fact, a year after the acquisition, WhatsApp removed the subscription from what was officially a free app. In return they warned the application would be opened for business, so we can chat with them. Users aren’t paying, but businesses probably are.

WhatsApp Business in first version of 2018

By 2017, maintenance services began to arrive timidly via WhatsApp and were ready the next year. WhatsApp Business and its APIFormalizing WhatsApp’s intention to be more than a messaging app.

WhatsApp Business has evolved since its launch, allowing businesses to create virtual stores and offer support. Users, on their own behalf, Buy and transact without leaving the app you use to talk with your friends.

With the business world already under the spotlight, WhatsApp has been trying to expand the boundaries of communication in recent months. Let’s get used to chatting with people outside our circleswith a growing number of groups, user communities and channels. If WhatsApp wants to be an app for everything, it should be an app for everyone, not just for interacting with your contacts.

Prepare to book tickets from WhatsApp and the like

But the biggest change came with this month’s presentation. purchasing flows and payment methods, a development that WhatsApp is preparing to enable us to carry out all kinds of transactions, from buying train tickets to booking a table at a restaurant or buying carrots.

This and the constant improvement of the API for companies means that companies have an increasingly complete toolbox for engaging with potential customers via WhatsApp. Summary of this workSubtle changes on the way to WhatsApp’s superpowers:

• 2009: WhatsApp was launched as an application that kept status information among your iPhone contacts, but with the arrival of push notifications, it quickly turned into a messaging application where you can chat with your friends and acquaintances, that is, the people you have saved in your contact book.
• 2016: WhatsApp is no longer paid. Until then, the app required (and often forgave) a subscription of under 1 Euro per year. That same year, they announced that the app, now under Facebook’s control, could be used to talk to businesses.
• 2017: The first bots to WhatsApp come with the integration of technical services of airlines such as KLM or Aeroméxico, which previously offered the same service via Facebook Messenger.
• 2018: Facebook is rolling out WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Business Platform APIs to connect businesses to WhatsApp. Initially, WhatsApp Business is quite similar to regular WhatsApp; It focuses on chat messages, company profile and many other things.
• 2020: WhatsApp Business is evolving with the arrival of a product catalog that makes it easier to purchase products from businesses via WhatsApp. WhatsApp’s attempts to allow money to be sent between users in Brazil are beginning (this will be in line in the coming years) and it is also the year when the payment system WhatsApp Pay is officially announced.
• 2021: WhatsApp has launched a directory of nearby companies with profiles on WhatsApp Business.
• 2022: Communities are emerging as a new way to interact with larger, less-than-close groups of people. In contrast, phone numbers are kept private, unlike groups. In India, WhatsApp has launched a service to shop at JioMart supermarket and book metro tickets through the app.
• 2023: Channels come as a one-way communication method, and WhatsApp is opening up all kinds of purchasing experiences with new purchase flows and payment methods.

Super app WhatsApp does everything it can

When sending money between individuals launched in Brazil

And what is it? Everything WhatsApp has managed to integrate without us even realizing it? The main feature of a super app is that it has a large number of users and features at the same time. The first is fulfilled in spades. The latter is becoming more and more true every day:

• Chats between individuals and groups via calls and video calls.
• Chats with communities and groups with large numbers of members outside our circles.
• News via channels.
• Send money between individuals.
• Buy from small businesses on WhatsApp with product catalogue.
• With the business directory, find companies in the area with a WhatsApp profile.
• Contact customer service of businesses or organizations.
• You shop from supermarkets like JioMart.
• Payments from the app itself.
• Book flights, hotels, tickets and more.

Image | With items by Eduardo on Pixabay

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