Elon Musk's X rebrand reignites his goal to turn Twitter into an app like China's WeChat

When Elon Musk was successful the process of buying Twitter past year, determination was a batch of statement astir his plans for the app.

In October, the billionaire said buying Twitter was an "accelerant to creating X, the everything app," without providing further details. But it did spark comparisons with China's WeChat, the messaging work tally by Chinese elephantine Tencent.

On Monday, Musk officially changed Twitter's celebrated vertebrate logo to an "X," marking his propulsion to alteration the level into thing much than conscionable a societal media service.

"In the months to come, we volition adhd broad communications and the quality to behaviour your full fiscal world," Musk said precocious Monday, re-iterating that the acquisition took spot to accelerate the determination toward the "everything app."

Newly-appointed CEO of the institution Linda Yaccarino said "X is the aboriginal authorities of unlimited interactivity – centered successful audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a planetary marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities."

Super apps notation to a benignant of app that let users to transportation retired aggregate functions without having to permission the app. For example, an app mightiness see societal media functions, payments, edifice and formation bookings and taxi hailing.

The biggest ace app successful the satellite is called WeChat which is tally by Chinese exertion elephantine Tencent and has implicit 1.3 cardinal users.

WeChat is chiefly an instant messaging app similar WhatsApp. But it is besides has payments and users tin entree different apps wrong it specified arsenic e-commerce and banking.

While China pioneered the ace app, the thought has taken disconnected successful different parts of Asia. Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing steadfast Grab has expanded into different areas similar nutrient transportation and payments. South Korea's Kakao is different example.

Musk has apt taken inspiration from WeChat, an app helium called "great" past year. Musk said determination is nary WeChat equivalent extracurricular of China.

"I deliberation that there's a existent accidental to make that," Musk told employees. "You fundamentally unrecorded connected WeChat successful China due to the fact that it's truthful utile and truthful adjuvant to your regular life. And I deliberation if we could execute that, oregon adjacent adjacent to that with Twitter, it would beryllium an immense success."

Tencent is 1 of these. With WeChat it operates the biggest messaging work successful the country. WeChat Pay is 1 of the 2 biggest mobile payments services successful China, the different being Alipay which is tally by Ant Group, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce elephantine Alibaba.

Alipay itself is besides different ace app.

Tencent has managed to make an app this size due to the fact that it runs its ain payments and societal media service. But the institution has besides invested successful different large companies similar e-commerce steadfast JD.com and and nutrient transportation institution Meituan. This has allowed Tencent to integrate their services into WeChat. Tencent is besides 1 of the world's biggest online gaming companies and that has fixed it further contented to enactment wrong WeChat.

Developers tin besides make alleged "mini programs" wrong WeChat. These are stripped down versions of afloat apps but it means a idiosyncratic doesn't person to download dozens of different apps and tin conscionable usage WeChat for astir everything.

In parts of southeast Asia, ride-hailing steadfast Grab has expanded into fiscal services and nutrient delivery, successful the lack of a plethora of rivals.

Creating a ace app successful the U.S. oregon Europe whitethorn beryllium overmuch much of a challenge. Online payments, an country Musk wants to propulsion into, are fragmented with nary azygous institution dominating the space. U.S. and Europe inactive trust heavy connected debit and recognition paper systems of payment. Payments successful China are done with a speedy effect oregon QR code, which is antithetic to the U.S. and Europe.

In ride-hailing and nutrient delivery, determination is large competition. Naturally, Musk's X volition beryllium a challenger to different societal media companies similar those nether Meta's umbrella. That could marque collaboration with different firms tough.

These are conscionable immoderate of the challenges and that's without going into areas specified arsenic contention successful advertizing and who owns the information successful the lawsuit X collaborates with different firms.

But besides determination is an accidental for X successful that Musk sees it much arsenic a broader connection app alternatively than conscionable abbreviated posts. He has dramatically accrued the quality limits for posts for radical who subscribe to Twitter Blue, for example. That could beryllium a starting point, to crook Twitter into much of a connection instrumentality that keeps users hooked. Then Musk could deliberation astir adding different tools similar payments that helium has already hinted at.

Ultimately though, trying to crook X into thing similar WeChat is going to beryllium a mammoth task, not slightest due to the fact that the factors that has helped the Chinese app's occurrence — whether its a mobile-first marketplace successful China oregon a much concentrated fig of players successful the net abstraction — are not contiguous successful the U.S. oregon Europe.