Elon Musk has a new wish to act upon and the inspiration is Chinese. The Chief Executive of Tesla inc. is going on with his original plan to buy Twitter after backing down earlier. The richest man in the world tweeted, ”Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.”
Earlier, Musk in one of his sessions with Twitter employees in June emphasized the fact that people in China live on WeChat and there are no such options for a SuperApp for people outside Asia. He wants to create a SuperApp for people outside the Asian subcontinent that connects everyone on the same platform.
What Is A SuperApp?
A single platform of any company that offers various products and services to the customer is likely to amalgamate into a Super App. It can be compared to a supermarket which has everything at the customer’s disposal. It constitutes various businesses under one umbrella app.
The concept emerged in China, where WeChat owned by tech giant Tencent, is used by people for nearly everything. It is used by billions of people in China, as an all-in-one social media, messaging, and payment app. It is also used to order food, hail cabs, and find news, and is embedded, in the routine life of the Chinese.
Elon Musk’s X The Everything App
In June, CNN reported that according to Musk, WeChat is so popular “because it’s so usable and helpful to daily life, and I think if we can achieve that, or even get close to that at Twitter, it would be an immense success.”
Elon Musk also reiterated that Twitter’s user base can grow from just over 200 million to a billion people. He has renewed his Twitter deal after backing out earlier. He tweeted that Twitter might accelerate X by 3 to 5 years.
It is unclear if Musk wants to create X from Twitter or change Twitter to X. Tesla CEO hasn’t given any proper timeline for his app but from his recent tweets and bids, it is quite clear that he is aiming for something huge.
Also Read: 4 Times People Predicted That The Elon Musk-Twitter Deal Will Not Go Through
What Is Elon Musk’s Connection With X?
Elon Musk has certain likeability towards the letter X. Musk refers to his first child with Claire Boucher as X. His history with this letter dates back to 1999 when he co-founded an online bank called X.com
X.com merged with a competing software company Confinity in the year 2000. In 2001, one of the Confinity founders replaced Musk as CEO. The company was renamed PayPal. Musk took over the domain for X.com from PayPal in 2017. The website currently directs to a blank white page with a black lowercase letter ‘x’ in the upper left corner. This X may now be a building block for “Everything”.
India also is proceeding with its Super Apps. TataNeu, a SuperApp launched this year, and the Jio umbrella offered by Reliance Industries has consolidated various offerings like groceries, shopping, and streaming applications.
The concept of conglomeration and consolidation kills the spirit of a healthy market and establishes a monopoly. There are various concerns about data monitoring and privacy in such an app.
The choices for the consumer reduce drastically. The crores of profit are not of any use to common citizens. The prime question arises whether we need the app for survival or whether the conglomerates need us.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Indian Express, New York Times, ZDNet
Find the blogger: Katyayani Joshi
This post is tagged under: Elon Musk, Twitter, Tesla, X, Everything App, SuperApp, Chinese, WeChat, Jio, TataNeu, Monopoly, Conglomerate, data breach, data privacy
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