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Ryan Rodenbaugh · · 13 min readBreaking down WhatsApp and Facebook’s super-app ambitions
I previously made the claim that it is unlikely that we will see a true super app emerge in the West. In general, I still stand by that claim.
Photo credit: Unsplash
When I was doing research on the super-app ambitions of US tech giants, one theme that emerged was that many of them seem to be fighting to become the super app in countries other than the US – particularly India. Amazon, Facebook, and Google all have active super app-like products in that country, and in other emerging markets as well, such as Brazil.
Facebook – along with many of its subsidiary properties – has the most public ambitions to become a super app.
On the about page of its website, The Facebook Company (yes, that’s what it calls itself now) breaks down its technologies/products:
- Facebook app
- Messenger
- Oculus
- Workplace
- Portal
- Novi
What’s absent from that list is F2 or Facebook Financial, which is now led by David Marcus, former CEO of PayPal, former head of Facebook Messenger, and co-creator of the group’s blockchain-based payments system Libra.
The Facebook Company has a few core properties that are primed to become super apps. In order, they are WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook.com, and Instagram.
But if Facebook wants any of its platforms to become a true super app, it must have payments as a core piece of infrastructure. Appointing a seasoned exec in Marcus and making payments into a company-wide initiative via Facebook Financial will allow it to have a powerful and unified payments experience across all of its applications.
When Facebook bought WhatsApp for US$19 billion in 2014, many were shocked, but Facebook knew exactly what it was doing.
By February 2020, WhatsApp had more than 2 billion users globally and supported more than 50 million business app users. No other platform seems more primed to become a super app.
As an American using the messenger service, I had always thought of it as a glorified texting app with a “statuses” feature that no one uses. But in markets like India and Brazil, WhatsApp already has more super app-like functionalities and has even become an integral part of national culture.
The messaging service’s biggest market is India where, as of July 2019, it had 400 million monthly active users – roughly 30% of the total population and about 70% of India’s 560 million internet users.
While WhatsApp has more global users than WeChat’s 1.2 billion users, it does not have the same stronghold in one country like WeChat has in China.
Messenger
Facebook.com
Closing thoughts
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