![]() Within a year, the app had attracted 50 million users, and by the first quarter of 2014 it boasted 396 million users globally, according to data compiled by Tencent. Kik Messenger provided inspiration for the team, whose leader Allen Zhang was concerned the Canadian messaging app could one day threaten Tencent’s QQ. “It was an entirely different team than the one responsible for QQ-a team with expertise in mobile,” Chen says. In late 2010, Tencent assembled a team of 10 developers in its Guangzhou research and development center to begin work on a smartphone messaging app. “Executives realized they could no longer rely on PC games and the QQ messenger service to drive growth,” says Jenny Chen, Marketing Manager of WalktheChat, a Beijing-based consultancy that advises companies on how to use WeChat. WeChat grew out of Tencent’s efforts five years ago to take the lead in China’s then ascendant mobile internet market. With a dominant position in China and Tencent’s vast resources at its disposal, WeChat could become one of the most powerful apps in the world. It has hobbled text messaging in China-once a big revenue source for China’s telecom carriers-and curbed the clout of Sina’s Web-based micro-blogging service Weibo. Nomura Securities estimates WeChat’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is at least $7-seven times the ARPU of WhatsApp, the top messaging platform globally.Īt the same time, WeChat’s disruptive capacity is formidable. In the second quarter, Tencent recorded RMB 4.5 billion ($701.4 million) in revenue from games purchased through WeChat and its older instant messaging app QQ, up 11% year-on-year.Īnalysts are sanguine about WeChat’s potential. In contrast to Facebook, which earns most of its revenue from advertising, WeChat monetizes by integrating online payment functions that encourage shopping through the app and selling games. That innovative strategy means WeChat has more opportunities than other messaging apps to make money. By steadily integrating value-added services into the app, Tencent has made it increasingly useful to both consumers and businesses. Tencent has used WeChat to create a mobile ecosystem for China, which has more smartphone than PC users. With 650 million monthly active users, it has a commanding position in the world’s biggest smartphone market. ![]() In just over four years, WeChat has evolved from a simple free messaging app into China’s paramount mobile portal. “It’s useful to chat with my friends, but it’s the convenience of the other functions that makes it so important to me.” “I spend about 40% of the time I use my smartphone on WeChat,” he says. The Hong Kong-based private banker and Beijing native uses Tencent’s ubiquitous mobile app to pay his bills, hail a taxi, order food and shop. ![]() Tencent is creating a whole universe in its WeChat app, and could become Asia’s preeminent internet company in doing so.Īlex Zou can’t imagine life without WeChat. ![]()
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