Evolving from Twitter to X, the new super app will offer multiple services to users and will effectively become the WeChat of the West.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the microblogging site will be rebranded as X in the near future. Elon Musk responded to the use of "True" in a tweet announcing the upcoming rebranding. According to the tweet, the new X platform will do more than just allow users to send short tweets. Users will be able to enjoy long texts, messages, videos, and various financial services.
The updated Twitter company is X
According to a document filed in federal court in California by "Twitter, Inc.", the name is no longer relevant. The document confirms that Twitter is now part of X, which is part of a parent company. The document reads:
“…Twitter, Inc. has been merged into X Corp and no longer exists. X Corp. is a privately held company. Its parent company is X Holdings Corp. No public company owns 10% or more of X Corp. or X Holdings Corp.”
The recent confirmation isn’t the first time Musk has mentioned the X app. Last October, Musk tweeted that buying Twitter would accelerate the creation of “X, the everything app.” While there are no official details on the X interface, Musk has said enough to create a working picture.
X: WeChat of the West
X will be a super app, an app that integrates multiple seemingly unrelated services in one place. Last year, during his first town hall meeting with Twitter employees, Musk said he wanted X to be a super app like WeChat. According to him:
“There’s nothing like WeChat in China, and this is a real opportunity to create it.”
Owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd. (HKG: 0700), WeChat is a super app that started out as an instant messaging app for smartphones in 2011. Over the years it has expanded its offerings, allowing users to do everything from buying groceries to scheduling doctor appointments. So far, there hasn’t been enough of an app anywhere in the West to compete.
In a March interview, Musk told Michael Grimes, a managing director at Morgan Stanley, that he had big plans for X. Specifically, he said X could “become the largest financial institution in the world,” where users could send money “effortlessly with a single click.”
As of March, WeChat had more than 1.3 billion monthly active users (MAU), a number expected to reach 1.671 billion this year. In January 2019, the platform recorded 45 billion messages per day. In July 2021, a quarter of users spent more than four hours per day on the app.
According to experts, Musk's goal of a super app will face tough challenges. Analysts speaking to CNN said competition is fierce as other giants such as TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube are striving to become super apps. In addition to competition, they also pointed out that regulation will make it difficult for authorities to allow the kind of monopoly that X will obtain if it succeeds.