How China's WeChat Becomes More Of An Operating System, By Involving Samsung

Apple may have first pioneered the app store, and how users can benefit from third-party services on their phones. But in China where Apple struggles, WeChat is thriving.

WeChat is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app. It became the world's largest standalone mobile apps in 2018, roughly seven years after it was founded.

Backed by Tencent, the app has been described a "super app" which suggests that it's literally an "app for everything".

And here, WeChat is becoming even more powerful, as it partners with Samsung, the world's largest smartphone from South Korea.

With this partnership, newer Samsung smartphones sold in China is giving direct access to WeChat and its in-app mini-programs, which are essentially "sub-applications” within the WeChat ecosystem. Users can simply use those mini-programs, without having to open WeChat.

Samsung - WeChat

WeChat's in-app mini-programs have become a vital part of the WeChat experience.

These "apps within an app" allow users to interact just like what they would normally when using any normal app. For example, they can perform a number of different functions, including playing games, hailing a taxi, or doing other e-commerce transactions.

And since these apps are no larger than 10MB each, they are certainly lightweight for even the most low-budget phones.

By partnering with Samsung, WeChat is leveraging this advantage to the next level.

Here, WeChat can give users an even more direct access to its ecosystem, where Samsung users can simply swipe right on their phone's home screen to see their five most recently used mini-programs, or swipe left from the edge screen to access their 10 favorite mini-programs.

Users can open a WeChat mini-program from the phone’s home screen just like they would on any other app.

WeChat-s mini-programs can be accessed by swiping on Samsung's home screen
WeChat's mini-programs can be accessed by swiping on Samsung's home screen

While Apple struggles in China, and so does Google, WeChat which is a homegrown app in the country, is becoming an operating system on its own.

With WeChat able to combine functions of different apps into just one, the WeChat core app pretty much becomes a smartphone OS, with the mini-programs becoming what users would expect when using normal apps.

And because WeChat is can be downloaded on both iOS and Android, this is one major reason why people in China are more likely to freely switch between iPhones and Android phones, because experience won't be affected by much.

While this partnership is certainly a huge jab to Apple and Google, it doesn't mean that other phone makers in China is happy.

Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and some others are announcing that they were partnering to build their own version of mini-programs. Dubbed as 'Quick Apps', these are also lightweight apps like WeChat's, and can also be baked directly into the home screen.

For example, the mini-programs can be opened directly from the search bar on the home screen, or through the phone’s voice assistant.

But here, those Chinese smartphone manufacturers are fighting an uphill battle. Xiaomi revealed back in March that it was having 500 to 1,000 mini-programs available for download. Its goal, was to increase that number to around 10,000 to 100,000 this 2019.

That number, is still a fraction the the number of mini-programs hosted by WeChat, which has surpassed 2 million, according to an estimate by a mini-program development service provider Jisu App.

Looking Deep Into Mini-Programs

Tesla - mini-program
Tesla's mini-program enables users to locate charging stations, schedule a test-drive and share their experiences about driving a Tesla car

Mini-programs are a indeed an ambivalent piece of technology.

They may have several drawbacks if compared to web apps or PWA (Progressive Web Apps), like being unable to send out push notifications, unable to be shared on users' WeChat timeline, and have to be developed using JavaScript from Tencent.

They are also limited, as they can only work alongside WeChat.

What made these mini-programs get the traction was that, businesses, brands and influencers are creating their own mini-programs. One of which, was Key Opinion Leader Yu Xiaoge who started to boast more than $1.5 million through e-commerce mini-programs.

Looking back, WeChat has already benefit from its striving community. With its number of users increasing, brands and businesses are looking to tap into those massive audience, but only to meet one problem: articles sent using WeChat Subscription Accounts don't allow links.

This made it difficult for them to link their products in order to convert WeChat users to buyers.

When WeChat created mini-programs, the app literally transformed itself into a much more dynamic ecosystem, despite still contained within its own walled garden.

At face value, mini-programs may seem like a terrible choice for brands because of their limited capabilities and proprietary language. But when considering their ability to convert WeChat contents to e-commerce opportunities, this makes mini-programs the powerful tool for business.

WeChat acknowledged that, and Samsung grabbed its chance to benefit from it.

Published: 
27/08/2019