Super apps or everything apps solve a problem the US doesn't have. It's related to conglomerates... which is a business structure that creates financial efficie

Super apps or everything apps solve a problem the US doesn't have. It's related to conglomerates... which is a business structure that creates financial efficiencies that in financially unsophisticated economies can overcome the inefficiencies created by a single firm operating in a wide range of unrelated industries. To rephrase: if it's difficult to barrow money, then a large company (that has money from other ventures) can use that money to create a business that is less efficient than a focused competitor.. but will survive because the focused competitor will have to expend a lot of energy attempting to get adequate capital. The US used to have conglomerates.. and they died as the capital market developed. But they still exist in other countries, like India with Tata and Reliance. Super apps solve a similar problem, and Elon is right that payments are the central service of the app. If you look at countries where super apps became popular, payments were the problem being solved. Consumers in those countries have difficult access to credit, credit cards are non-existent, and paying your electric bill may mean going to a physical payment location and waiting in line to pay in cash. It's a two sided problem: most consumers don't have credit cards (or electronic payment options), and since consumers don't pay with credit cards, businesses often dont accept credit cards. Even the payment networks are underdeveloped and often unreliable (to what extent they exist), and things a company may rely on to extend credit often don't exist: like credit scores or credit reports. So super apps solve the payment problem on both sides of the market: consumers get access to credit (or the ability to deposit cash at least); and they signup businesses so consumers have a place to spend their money. Consumers like it because it's much easier/faster/efficient, and businesses like it because it increases sales/customers. The US has the most sophisticated financial market in the world. This isn't a problem the average american has... and that's why even though its been over a decade since WeChat, there isn't a super app in the US. Even the super apps in Europe have poor traction compared to those in India and other markets. The popularity of the concept is directly related to the stage of development of the country's financial markets.