BackExplained: Why ‘X’, the everything app is so close to Elon Musk's heart?
Elon Musk stated that there is no equivalent to a super app like WeChat. And he sees an opportunity to create such an app
PremiumWhen Elon Musk thinks, he thinks big. So when he announced to proceed with his original $44 billion bid to take Twitter, which he originally committed to buying in April, but soon soured on, the industry experts predicted that something huge is coming along. And as it was assumed, the Tesla Boss is not simply buying Twitter to make it better. He claims a much grander plan: creating X - an “everything app" that does whatever you need. Here is all you need to know.
What is X- the everything app?
The concept of an everything app, often referred to as a "super app," is massively popular in Asia and tech companies across the world have tried to replicate it. Super app offers a suite of services for users such as messaging, social networking, peer-to-peer payments and e-commerce shopping.
Pointing out to its wide usage in Asia, Scott Galloway, a New York University professor of marketing and co-host of tech podcast, commented, this is ‘because mobile is the main form of access to the internet for many people in the region’
Which super apps are already popular?
China's WeChat, which has over 1 billion monthly users, is a ubiquitous part of daily life in China. Users can hail a car or taxi, send money to friends and family or make payments at stores.
Then Grab, a leading super app across Southeast Asia, offers food delivery, ride-hailing, on-demand package delivery and financial services and investing.
Why does Musk want to create a super app?
Musk had stated earlier that there is no equivalent to a super app like WeChat outside of Asia. "You basically live on WeChat in China," he said, adding he saw an opportunity to create such an app.
Now, adding more tools and services to Twitter could help Musk reach his lofty growth goals for the company. Musk and members of his inner circle had also texted multiple times about the idea of adding digital payments to Twitter
What ‘X’ is so close to Musk's heart?
Musk has said he has “a fondness for the letter X." X is how Musk publicly refers to his first child with Claire Boucher, the musician known as Grimes, but his history with the letter dates to at least 1999, when he helped found X.com, an online bank, a New York Times report said.
In 2000, X.com merged with Confinity, a competing software company. In 2001, Peter Thiel, one of Confinity’s founders, replaced Musk as X.com’s CEO, and the company was renamed PayPal. However, the billionaire bought the domain for X.com from PayPal in 2017.
Following this, he had tweeted: “Thanks PayPal for allowing me to buy back X.com! No plans right now, but it has great sentimental value to me."
The plans, it now seems, have to do with “everything."
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