Why "Everything App" May Not Work in US
Interesting observation that the US' regulatory regime may not even allow a supera-app to work in America.
Is an American “super app” really feasible? Though executives like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have sought to emulate China’s WeChat, none have been successful so far. Experts say the U.S. faces unique challenges that may prevent an “everything app” from ever going mainstream, since Americans tend to distrust Big Tech and are reluctant to give one company all of their data. Even if consumers were on board, federal regulations around digital payments could still hinder efforts to combine services like banking, shopping, healthcare and social media into one platform.
Elon Musk’s X hopes to become a super app, and Meta’s Facebook Messenger previously attempted to integrate payments, gaming and group chats into one platform before abandoning some features in an effort to declutter. Snap Inc. also shut down its payments system Snapcashafter four years due to competition from rivals like Venmo.
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