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Phone real estate is precious. Ever had to delete photos and videos while traveling just so you can take more of them?
Users of storage-lite Android devices certainly have it worse. The struggle is an everyday one when it affects the apps you can afford to download and use.
It’s why third-party developers have created modified versions of WhatsApp called WhatsApp Lite, which take up less space on devices and have lower battery consumption than the original, while still being able to perform basic messaging and call functions.
In a similar vein, GoTo is hoping that at a size of 25 megabytes, its new standalone GoPay app can cater to a new segment of customers in Indonesia, whose mobile devices may be unable to support the full ride-hailing or ecommerce app. A whopping 87% of smartphone users in the archipelago use the Android operating system.
In this week’s Big Story, my colleague Simon dissects the Indonesian firm’s eyebrow-raising move, featuring an interview with Hans Patuwo, GoTo’s president of financial technology.
For the same reason that GoTo has chosen to use its e-wallet to bridge financial inclusion, digital payments have become deeply embedded in everyday life, which might explain the resilience of payments firms even amid a challenging economic climate.
In the first six months of 2023, funding for Singapore’s fintech sector fell 41% year on year. But payments firms – together with AI and machine learning as well as crypto companies (surprise) – remained relatively resilient. I dive into this further and other noteworthy fintech trends in this week’s Hot Take.
And, for those in Singapore, Happy National Day!
— Melissa
THE BIG STORY
What GoPay’s new standalone app says about GoTo’s ‘super-app’ strategy
Image credit: Timmy Loen
The GoPay app is up to a quarter the size of the Tokopedia and Gojek apps and sports a “simple and user-friendly” design.
THE HOT TAKE
NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
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