Apple’s iPhone, popular here and through much of Europe, has struggled to compete in China. Now a new blow: WeChat is working on a way for mobile users to bypass downloading separate apps, doing an end-run around the iTunes app store — a major source of revenue for Apple.
 
What is WeChat and why would its move affect one of the biggest companies in the world?
 
WeChat is a mobile messaging app, owned by Chinese gaming company Tencent. But it’s really a portal to everything. Think of it as Facebook, Amazon, WhatsApp, Venmo, Tinder, Uber and pretty much anything else you put on your smartphone all rolled into one.
 
WeChat users can do things such as share life updates, send voice, video and text messages, shop online, transfer payments, book tickets, set hospital appointments, buy groceries, find one night stands and exchange business cards. It also has an interactive “shake” feature that some brands have used to engage with live audiences on TV.
 
According to Zara Zhang on The Information, in China, WeChat “should be understood as less of an app and more as a way of life.”
 
It is far and away the most popular messaging app in China; two-thirds of the country has a WeChat account. It has over 800 million active monthly users, who spend more than a third of their time on the mobile internet on it and return to it 10 times a day or more.
 
This user stickiness means “brands in China often use WeChat as their main channel for PR, content marketing, customer acquisition and brand marketing,” writes Ha Duong.
 
Outside China, however, mobile services aren’t designed to integrate with WeChat. So if you download it here, WeChat downgrades into a messaging app.
 
Still, WeChat is shaping the future of mobile services globally. Silicon Valley companies are trying to add similar features to their own platforms. For example, Facebook is trying to build in payments and ways for businesses to interact with customers in its messaging app. Apple is also opening up its chat system, iMessage, to run apps within it.
 
But so far, WeChat is leading the pack. “Companies that want a glimpse of the future of mobile commerce,” says The Economist, “should look not just to Silicon Valley, but also to the other side of the Pacific.”