Microsoft is reportedly working on a “super app” for Android smartphones and iPhones. Online search, news or online shopping, everything should be combined in one app. The company wants to break the dominance of Apple and Google in mobile search.
According to the online magazine the information Microsoft’s plan for a “super app” is primarily to secure the mobile search engine business. The software company is finding it difficult to establish its own online search engine, Bing, on the market. A super app that combines numerous functions could expand Bing Internet search. To do this, as many users as possible would have to install the app on their smartphones.
“Super App” could strengthen Microsoft’s presence on smartphones
The establishment of an all-in-one app could be an attempt to expand Microsoft’s advertising revenue in the mobile business in the long term. Microsoft’s projects to establish itself in the business with its own smartphone failed after years of investing millions. In 2014 the company founded Microsoft Mobile in cooperation with the manufacturer Nokia. The smartphones ran Windows Phone, an offshoot of the successful computer operating system. Ultimately, however, Microsoft’s smartphones only lived in the shadows and could not break the dominance of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Windows Phone and Microsoft Mobile were already discontinued in 2017.
Google is not only pre-installed as a search engine on Android smartphones. The company also has an agreement with Apple that search is pre-installed on iPhones. That is why Microsoft’s search engine Bing is far behind in global mobile use in 2022 with a market share of 0.66%. In the desktop area, the share is at least 10.3 percent.
An all-in-one app for iOS and Android could give Microsoft a new avenue into the growing smartphone app market. An interface with Office 365 could network other services through well-known Microsoft brands such as Teams and Outlook. These work-oriented apps would then be combined with everyday consumer services. Shopping, team chats and ordering food would then be possible in one app. The super app would serve as a platform that would bring together other Microsoft services and apps.
Model for Microsoft’s super app: WeChat, Kakao and X
The idea of the supper app has long been established in Asia. The various apps try to penetrate and establish themselves in as many areas of their customers’ lives as possible. In China, the common platforms such as Google, Instagram or WhatsApp are blocked. That is why Chinese alternatives such as WeChat (Weixin) have established themselves, which offer many other services in addition to a messenger function. WeChat now has up to 1.3 billion monthly active users. In addition to communication, the app offers other services, for example for orders, information and logging in with a Corona health code. There is WeChat Pay for online payments, but there are also apps for taxis and housekeeping. In addition to WeChat, which is managed by the Chinese Internet company Tencent, there are also other super apps such as Alibaba Pay from the well-known online shop Alibaba.
A super app has also established itself in South Korea. The Kakao app offers 134 services in an app ecosystem. Founded in 2010, the company has almost completely caught on in some online spaces. Around 45 million of the 52 million South Koreans use cocoa. There is still no all-in-one app in Europe, so Microsoft could try to start there and capture market share.
After the Twitter takeover, Elon Musk also indicated that he would launch a similar project with “X”. According to Musk’s own statement, “X” be an “app for everything”. So far, however, no more detailed information about the app is known. According to experts, American competition for the Asian role models could result from a restructuring of Twitter.
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Is Google also an all-in-one app?
It is questionable whether Google is already a contender for a western equivalent of the Asian super apps. In addition to search, maps could represent another growth area for Google. With Google Pay, Google Search and other services, the potential for a cross-app platform already exists. Microsoft could therefore have difficulties breaking the market power with an all-in-one app.