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Long article that doesn't provide the answer to its own title, but a lot of nonsense. Wechat is not a super app, it is a browser. It is popular because China

Long article that doesn't provide the answer to its own title, but a lot of nonsense. Wechat is not a super app, it is a browser. It is popular because China is mobile first, you search within wechat instead of in a browser because the web is not mobile first but apps are.

wodenokoto 4y ago
That’s like saying the Apple App Store is a browser.
- helloworld97 4y ago
- idle_zealot 4y ago
  It's more like saying that iOS is a browser. But that's precisely backwards. iOS is an operating system. Browsers are also basically operating systems. Superapps also behave like operating systems. This is probably where the "superapp is like a browser" sentiment comes from.
  - oneswarm 4y ago
    Wechat is a brower with sdk included which website owners can easily utilize to get the user info and money. The only thing the website owner needs to do is associate the website with wechat through registertion and authetication （in the form of mini program）. If users can put the user info and payments info into chrome or firefox brower through some kind of open protocol，and every website has the abality to issue request to utilize this information，then the browers will be the more decenterized super app.
lelandfe 4y ago
> Wechat is not a super app, it is a browser. ...and a payment service, and a search app, and a messaging app, and a social media service, and a video calling platform, and a VOIP calling service, and a video sharing platform
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- anubiskhan 4y ago
  All things I can do in my browser
  - chazeon 4y ago
    Except that right now simplified Chinese contents are dying on the open web due to the walled gardens these super apps built. There are also payment and some government services now must be done in these super apps in China.
- ElCheapo 4y ago
  Now go and see how many APIs Google Chrome has
  - lelandfe 4y ago
    All of those things I named are built by WeChat and live in the app, first-party: WeChat Pay, WeChat Moments, WeChat Channels, WeChat Out, etc. "You can technically visit any site you want" is really not an apt rebuttal to an app that contains a multitude of first-party features.
    - ElCheapo 4y ago
      WeChat is controlled by the government. They don't need an open ecosystem: if the government mandates an app then everyone will use that app. It's completely unnecessary to implement some kind of public facing API to offer the functionalities to supposed third parties. There are none.
      - lelandfe 4y ago
        It is an "open ecosystem" if I am understanding your meaning correctly. You can make your own ("mini") programs for WeChat. I presumed that's where the original "it is a browser" comment stemmed from. I was trying to point out that the super-app label stems from the bevy of first-party features WeChat has built in. There aren't real analogs to that in the western world (Facebook would like to be one of them). That the government has their hands on their scale is orthogonal to this discussion.
helloworld97 4y ago

wodenokoto 4y ago

That’s like saying the Apple App Store is a browser.

helloworld97 4y ago
idle_zealot 4y ago
It's more like saying that iOS is a browser. But that's precisely backwards. iOS is an operating system. Browsers are also basically operating systems. Superapps also behave like operating systems. This is probably where the "superapp is like a browser" sentiment comes from.
- oneswarm 4y ago
  Wechat is a brower with sdk included which website owners can easily utilize to get the user info and money. The only thing the website owner needs to do is associate the website with wechat through registertion and authetication （in the form of mini program）. If users can put the user info and payments info into chrome or firefox brower through some kind of open protocol，and every website has the abality to issue request to utilize this information，then the browers will be the more decenterized super app.

lelandfe 4y ago

> Wechat is not a super app, it is a browser. ...and a payment service, and a search app, and a messaging app, and a social media service, and a video calling platform, and a VOIP calling service, and a video sharing platform

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
anubiskhan 4y ago
All things I can do in my browser
- chazeon 4y ago
  Except that right now simplified Chinese contents are dying on the open web due to the walled gardens these super apps built. There are also payment and some government services now must be done in these super apps in China.
ElCheapo 4y ago
Now go and see how many APIs Google Chrome has
- lelandfe 4y ago
  All of those things I named are built by WeChat and live in the app, first-party: WeChat Pay, WeChat Moments, WeChat Channels, WeChat Out, etc. "You can technically visit any site you want" is really not an apt rebuttal to an app that contains a multitude of first-party features.
  - ElCheapo 4y ago
    WeChat is controlled by the government. They don't need an open ecosystem: if the government mandates an app then everyone will use that app. It's completely unnecessary to implement some kind of public facing API to offer the functionalities to supposed third parties. There are none.
    - lelandfe 4y ago
      It is an "open ecosystem" if I am understanding your meaning correctly. You can make your own ("mini") programs for WeChat. I presumed that's where the original "it is a browser" comment stemmed from. I was trying to point out that the super-app label stems from the bevy of first-party features WeChat has built in. There aren't real analogs to that in the western world (Facebook would like to be one of them). That the government has their hands on their scale is orthogonal to this discussion.

helloworld97 4y ago