Lecture
Hi, you will learn about the super application. Let's analyze its main types and features of use. There will be many more detailed examples and descriptions. In order to better understand what a super application, super app, super app is, I strongly recommend that you read everything from the category Software and information systems development.
In recent years, large international companies from different fields create a new online platform for its users - superapp s (from the English super app.). Superappom makes a common application the presence of an ecosystem in which several functions from the field of finance, leisure or lifestyle are combined at once. Grocery delivery, money orders, concert tickets, taxis - all this can now be accommodated in one place.
The term Super App was proposed in 2010 by the founder of BlackBerry, Michalis Lazaridis. By his definition, Super App is a closed ecosystem of many applications that people can use every day, where and when they need it. BlackBerry's Super App failed due to a failed monetization model and a general loss of market share by the company's gadgets. The modern coolest and most sophisticated superapps WeChat and Alipay not only destroyed the concept of a closed ecosystem, but also managed to become almost equal to the passport in importance for their users.
Of course, superapp is a convenient form of aggregation of mobile applications, when everything is at hand at once. However, the question of "peaceful coexistence" of several supers on our smartphones, work with personal data and general information security remains open. It's simple: the more aspects of life are concentrated in "one hands" (one device, one application), the higher the risks .
Super Apps essentially serve as a single portal for a wide range of virtual products and services. The most sophisticated - apps like WeChat and Alipay in China - combine online messaging (like WhatsApp), social media (like Facebook), marketplaces (like eBay), and services (like Uber). One application, one login, one user interface - for virtually any product or service a customer might want or need.
Largely due to its versatility, super-applications have quickly become a part of the daily life of users. It is not unusual for a WeChat user in China to make an instant messaging date with a friend, book a table for dinner, order movie tickets, order a taxi and pay for every transaction on the way - all from one app.
And again everyone is discussing the "first in Russia" SuperApp, this time from Tinkoff. One of these days, one of the first SuperApps had an anniversary - the application "Moscow state services", in which you can pay for parking and fines, take readings from housing and communal services, make an appointment with a doctor, see the child's health care and assessments. Federal government services have followed in their footsteps: the addition of the word "super" (super-services or super-appa) automatically raises the "coolness" of any service. And although I do not have warm feelings for superapps (harvesters), but today's penetration of digital public services is their merit.
What are we seeing now, the sunrise or sunset of the SuperApps?
In February 2020, the developers of the popular Chinese messenger WeChat added a new feature to the application. Users can see places on the map of their city where cases of coronavirus infection have been recorded. It's a handy innovation, but why WeChat? The fact is that under quarantine conditions, people began to order food delivery online more often, call a taxi, watch movies at home instead of a cinema - all this without leaving WeChat. It's not just a messaging app today. The billion transactions that go through WeChat Pay every month and countless services make it a super app called m (or superapp).
A few years ago, you would need three different apps to get a taxi to your friends, order food at your favorite restaurant, and later in the evening buy new sneakers from home. Developers from Asia were the first to change this. Gojek appeared in Indonesia in 2010, first as a call center for courier delivery and motorcycle taxis, and since 2015 as an application with GoRide, GoSend, GoShop and GoFood services. Gradually, Gojek has grown to a full-fledged superapp, offering users more than 20 services in one place.
In 2012, while WeChat was gaining popularity in China, the GrabTaxi taxi booking application appeared in Malaysia. Now you can order food, buy insurance, find a hotel - and much more. The app is already in use in eight Asian countries, including Singapore and Thailand. Asian superapps have not only brought together all the important services in one place: they have also simplified the process of paying for goods. For example, in China, it is easier to pay with WeChat Pay than with a credit card. This is true in Asia, where only 27% of people have a bank account.
Today, all three applications continue to grow and set the standard for multitasking platforms. Gojek has already covered Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, and Grab has begun collaborating with online cinema HOOQ, creating serious competition in Asia even for such a giant as Netflix.
In the United States, they decided to follow the example of successful platform ecosystems. While the transportation service Uber was building UberEats and Uber Wallet, Facebook developers started thinking about creating their own super app. The average American spends 1 hour and 15 minutes on Facebook every day, so it makes sense to integrate a business into a social network. Other big companies are also following the trend: Google Maps plans to increase the functionality of the application by adding all the services that can be mapped to it, and Airbnb is going to transform itself into a full-fledged travel platform.
Are SuperApps a dead end? The fact is that the most significant transformation of the way we consume services was the revolution of interaction with the smartphone. And it is very likely that the revolution is brewing again. Siri, Google, Alice are the very images of the future that hint at how the interaction will be carried out. If you look at the changes for developers that Apple showed (SiriKit) this year, you can understand how the very essence of working with application interfaces will change in the future - a mixture of voice assistant, quick buttons and application elements during communication. Perhaps this will become "the same" really the first SuperApp. Time will tell.
Further development emphasis will have 4 vectors: taxi, food delivery, online retail and fintech. Moreover, the most difficult segment to master will be online retail. firstly, there are two stable and strong giants Ozon and Wildberries on the Russian market, and secondly, sovereign players such as Perekrestok, SPAR, etc. are also strong online and have an audience with a solid core. Analysts refer to Yandex, Mail.ru Group, Sberbank and Tinkoff-Bank to the key players who build ecosystems and develop super-applications, but the emergence of new players and the development of existing large companies is not excluded. At the same time, all leaders approach the solution in different ways: if Yandex has Go, Tinkov has a mobile application, then, for example, Sberbank has not yet offered users a convenient aggregator.Morgan Stanley considers Yandex and Sberbank to be potential absolute leaders, since Mail.ru Group is stronger in sales through social networks, and Tinkoff has an obvious bias towards fintech.
Other experts also agree on the future growth of supers, but have doubts about the easy path to the hearts and wallets of users. So, Ph.D., Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Maxim Fateev commented: "<...> There are no superapps in Russia that are comparable in popularity, for example, to the Chinese WeChat, but those who claim ecosystem leadership, declared themselves very loudly in a fairly short period of time. First of all, these are Sberbank, Yandex, Mail.ru Group and Tinkoff. These companies have the necessary resources for development - finance, developed IT infrastructure, and a wide audience of users. In my opinion, today the Russian user does not require super applications. So far he is used to one application that has one service. In addition, in Russia, the issue of collecting and storing personal data is quite acute. Almost all applications (not just supers) collect user data - to a greater or lesser extent . <...> Therefore, in my opinion, in the next few years it will be difficult for a superappu in Russia to completely repeat the success of WeChat with its scale <...>
so the problems that arise
That's all! Now that you know everything about the super application, remember that it will now be easier to use in practice. I hope that now you understand what a super application, super app, super app is and what all this is for, and if you don’t understand, or there are comments, then feel free to write or ask in the comments, I’ll be happy to answer. In order to understand more deeply, I strongly recommend that you study all the information from the category Development of software and information systems
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Software and information systems development
Terms: Software and information systems development