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WeChat’s world
- Animats 10y agoWeChat's operator, Tencent, has an office in Palo Alto, CA. They're hiring. But WeChat seems to be run separately from Tencent, as the Wexin group. Most WeChat and Tencent services are available in English, but so far Tencent hasn't tried to take on Facebook directly in the US. WeChat is more than an "app". It's a mobile OS/browser which can run other services.[1] WeChat calls those services "official accounts". Once activated, they can send notifications and participate in payment systems. So, rather than having an app for each service, most services work through WeChat's standardized interface. Last year, WeChat kicked off Uber's official accounts for what they claimed was a TOS violation. This was a big hit for Uber. Customers could no longer call a Uber from WeChat. Didi's official accounts remained live, as did those of other taxi companies. WeChat is an investor in Didi. This may be part of why Uber caved and sold out to Didi. When augmented reality comes, it might look a lot like WeChat. [1] http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-first/ http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-first/
- csears 10y agoHas WeChat followed Facebook's approach of unbundling functions into single-purpose apps? Or is everything delivered through a common chat/IM interface, similar to Messenger?
- adotjdotr 10y agoAll in one app.
- aminorex 10y agoIt is a very convenient app, except that if you say the wrong thing, they imprison you, or just kill you.
- contingencies 10y agoUS is no different with Facebook/Twitter/etc. Even last century there were documented instances of people being killed doing things like picking up a Western Union money transfer, and military assassin UAVs today almost certainly use cellphone IDs, which are likely frequently obtained by western governments via such databases when the target is overseas.