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5 ways China’s WeChat is more innovative than you think

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5 ways China’s WeChat is more innovative than you think
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Tech in Asia has been covering WeChat, China’s most popular mobile message app, before it even had an English name. Meanwhile, international tech media outlets (including ourselves) have also been following the evolution of other messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Line, Facebook Messenger, and many, many others. Over the past year or so there’s been lots of talk about how these messengers are maturing into “platforms” – or, apps that users will use to buy things, and that business and organizations can use to reach an audience.

However, as others have correctly pointed out, it’s not appropriate to lump China’s WeChat alongside these other chat apps. This is in large part because it’s simply far ahead of its like-minded competitors with respect to the “platform” side of things.

When a user opens up WeChat in any language other than Chinese, they’ll likely see a messaging app that, for the most part, looks and works just like Line or Viber. But for Chinese speaking users, WeChat is a rabbit hole – full of all sorts of features that apps like Line haven’t even come close to adding. Indeed, Tencent internally continues to refer to “WeChat in China” only as Weixin (its Mandarin name), while its international counterpart is referred to as WeChat.

With this in mind, below we’ve outlined five ways in which WeChat is already excelling as a platform within China – and how its likely to become even more relevant to Chinese consumers and businesses alike.

1. It’s not just a messaging app, it’s a mobile news reading app

This is one of WeChat’s most overlooked bright points. Countless Chinese media organizations operate subscription accounts on WeChat, through which they send out daily digests to subscribers. It’s quite easy to keep up with the Chinese news cycle just by following a few choice accounts. Moreover, these news organizations don’t just send out links re-directing readers to their official websites – instead, when readers press a link to a story, they’re moved to a standalone webpage under Tencent’s mp.weixin.qq URL, viewable within WeChat’s in-app browser. Users can also save articles and then view them later within WeChat (albeit not offline), in a clean format that’s uninterrupted by noisy ads and cluttered sidebars.

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What’s the result here? While WeChat doesn’t offer the same degree of customization as apps like Readability or Flipboard, it has many of the functions of those social news-reading apps. It lets users read articles in a visually pleasing format, and users can then share those articles within WeChat and outside of WeChat. While a “read offline” function might not help WeChat earn extra money, the app is just a few lines of code away from turning into an outstanding reading service in the vein of Pocket.

It’s worth noting that this feature is also available in WeChat’s international versions. But what’s missing? A diverse range of media outlets that have public accounts on WeChat.

2. It’s not just a messaging app, it’s a blogging platform

WeChat’s international versions have thus far been very selective with regard to what entities qualify for a public account. But in China, nearly anyone can register for a public account. As a result, there are many bloggers in China who use WeChat as their primary channel for publishing posts. Much like your average Joe with a WordPress account, some of these bloggers write on specific themes and amass loyal followings, while others publish posts that read like a daily journal.

Right now, in addition to various brands, businesses, and media organizations, I’m following one public account called warfalcon. The online psuedonym of a thirty-something IT professional, warfalcon first earned online fame in 2011 when he set out to read one book every day. Since then he’s become a Tim Ferris-esque figure in China, and he’ll publish daily posts on his WeChat public account on habit-forming and time management. I’m also following XYshentucao, which is an account run by an ordinary university student in Taizhou who posts updates about campus life.

3. It’s not just a messaging app, it’s your new online storefront

Before we dive into this bit, let’s first clarify the different account tiers offered to owners of public accounts on WeChat.

Right now, WeChat offers two types of public accounts: “subscription accounts” and “service accounts.” It’s worth noting that WeChat itself is currently in the process of further refining and distinguishing its two different account types, so for now, overlap is quite common.

In most cases, users and entities who register for a free subscription account get access to a customizable API which, at its most complex, lets users perform actions using the company’s own internal tools. For example, when I click on a promotional link on 7-11 Taiwan’s subscription page, I’m redirected to a page on 7-11’s website touting a deal on chocolate. All the while, I’m still in WeChat, and don’t have to open a mobile browser.

Users or entities who register for a free service account get access to a different customizable API which, at its most complex, lets users carry out tasks right inside the WeChat messaging window. For example, if I’m using an event-finding service account, I might enter “startup events” in the chat and then I’ll get an automated response about meetups in my neighborhood.

For both account types – “service” and “subscription” – account holders can apply for verification once they’ve reached over 500 followers. Once the application is processed, account holders will gain access to an even more extensive set of customizable APIs.

It gets more complicated than that, but that’s precisely the point – books have been written about marketing on WeChat, and social media ninjas have emerged from the fold to help firms learn best practices.

WeChat’s international versions tend to have only a handful of subscription accounts and service accounts. According to a representative at WeChat Taiwan, the company has made a deliberate decision to find big-name partners for its public accounts (like 7-11), and will only open them up to average Joes once traction picks up.

In China, however, businesses large and small are opening up public accounts – subscription accounts and service accounts – to sell goods and services. Since WeChat, unlike Line, charges either no fee or a minimal fee for opening a public account, small businesses on shoestring budgets can open accounts. And since the APIs are so deeply customizable, businesses can be sure to find a UI solution that suits their needs. Users, meanwhile, seldom are required to leave WeChat and open a mobile browser to complete payment – this extra step might prove just cumbersome enough to deter a purchase.

WeChat is so easy for businesses to use that the even the smallest of small-time entrepreneurs have built makeshift companies around it. A team of college students has opened up a business selling fruit on WeChat, in which users place orders through the official account and pay for the goods upon delivery.

These students aren’t the only ones – in the lobby of my colleague Steven’s apartment building there’s a set of posters touting vegetables for sale via WeChat.

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If local food vendors and small stores across China can use WeChat to operate their business, imagine the possibilities for other kinds of businesses to earn money off of it.

4. It’s not just a messaging app, it’s a mobile wallet

WeChat remains very advanced as a messaging app and a marketing tool. When it comes to e-commerce, it’s still in its infancy, though it’s maturing quickly.

After launching WeChat Payments as part of a v5.0 update for the app last August, Chinese users can bind their bank cards to the app and begin completing monetary transactions. In the five months since that feature was introduced, those transactions have grown increasingly sophisticated. Initially they were limited to stickers, in-game purchases, and deals on Tencent’s 51buy e-store. Now, WeChat users can buy a lot more things, like movie tickets and cab rides. Tencent also imported online investment fund into WeChat, thereby providing users further incentive to take move their money from their savings accounts, where it’s likely collecting dust, to a money-market fund where it can gain from a far higher interest rate.

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WeChat’s emerging payments function got a boon last week after Tencent rolled out a money gifting function that went viral in China during Chinese New Year. The scheme let any user send a lump sum of cash (a “red envelope,”) to a specific group of friends on WeChat. Yet this lump sum would be distributed randomly, leaving some recipients with a hefty reward, while others might only get a measly 1 RMB. The scheme proved successful enough to draw in five million participants, indicating that the app now has at least that many bank accounts bound to it.

This then opens the door for even more opportunities to get users spending on WeChat. All of the marketing activity on service and subscription accounts might soon evolve into actual shopping. In addition, Tencent experimented with online-to-offline payments when it connected WeChat to about 300 vending machines in Beijing last autumn. Given rival Alibaba’s recent push into online-to-offline payments, this space looks set to grow more heated as 2014 continues.

5. It’s not just a messaging app, it’s a resume

In my anecdotal experience, when it comes to communicating in a professional context, users in the US treat social media differently from users in Asia (or to be specific, in Taiwan and in mainland China). As a writer, when I reach out to US-based contacts for work-related purposes, doing so through Facebook is nothing less than taboo. Outside of media circles, pinging a contact on Twitter for work-related purposes toes the borderline of acceptable professional conduct. Email, it seems, remains the status-quo for connecting with peers.

It’s a different story for my Asia-based contacts. In Taiwan, Facebook isn’t just fair game, it’s not unusual to see a barrage of friend requests the day after a networking event. Meanwhile, my colleagues and I will regularly reach out to professional contacts all over mainland China using WeChat. On some occasions, we even receive press releases on WeChat.

Factor this apparent social norm in conjunction with LinkedIn’s strong adoption in China even without a Chinese-language version, and WeChat’s recent LinkedIn integration looks like a massive win for both parties. WeChat now has one more reason for its users to open the app – job hunting and recruitment – while LinkedIn gains direct access to one of the most widely used social networks in the country.

WeChat and the network effect

How does a messaging app gain users? WhatsApp might argue that the key to winning a market is to focus on messaging and only messaging. Line might argue that building a brand and culture are essential to luring in followers. Kik might argue multimedia support is key.

The discrepancy between the wild world of WeChat’s China version and its more spartan international version shows how the cart can’t come before the horse. Users will use messaging apps because their friends are on it. Only then, after a mass number of users have flocked to the service, can a messaging app become an exciting place where friends, family, bloggers, businesses, and media outlets all congregate.

As a result, there’s an element of irony to WeChat’s success in China, and Tencent’s international ambitions for the app. Tencent has hedged its bets on its outstanding messaging app as its best hope to date for an international hit. It’s likely pumped out tens of millions of marketing dollars to ensure it doesn’t go unnoticed in target markets. But marketing dollars can only do so much to take a messaging app to the top. If Johnny’s buddies all use WhatsApp to communicate, it will take a lot of TV ads to persuade him to make the switch.

So while WeChat’s China version might stand as the best, most sophisticated, forward-thinking app of its kind – a model for other apps to aspire to – there’s still no guarantee that its international versions will ever reach that same degree of “platform-ization.” WeChat’s China version is an outstanding product. However, if international users are swayed towards the likes of WhatsApp or Line instead, the most we can hope for is that other leading messaging apps will learn from Tencent’s innovation.

(Editing by Steven Millward)

(Top image via Flickr user linsenchen)

5 ways China's WeChat is more innovative than you think
 
My friend using Wechat to open an online shopping store. Never thought Wechat has functions like inventory management, disbursement, payment or even customer relationship management.

Wechat is also an excellent platform for Tecent to enter into the financial industry.
 
Isnt qq had all these way before? Much better then wei xin. But seems author dont know about it.
 
Isnt qq had all these way before? Much better then wei xin. But seems author dont know about it.

Not really, Wechat can only or mainly used on a mobile device, although QQ has mobile sever, but its functions is limited to communication. Both Wechat and QQ are products from Tecent, very interesting, one beat another.
 
WeChat dives into wearables to start 'connecting everything'

Several health-and-fitness trackers have gone on sale in China, revealing that messaging-app maker's efforts to become a software platform for wearables and eventually "everything."

by Francis Bea

July 18, 2014

WeChat, the China-based messaging app maker, has officially made a foray into the wearable devices market.

Wearables from iHealth, Huawei Honor, Lifesense, and Codoon that sport WeChat's application programming interface (API) went on sale online in China earlier this month, according to WantChinaTimes.com. The market for such fitness bands and smartwatches in China is immature and fragmented in its current state, but it's a competitive market with major technology firms including Qihoo and Xiaomi joining the fray.

Despite a growing interest in wearables, there has yet to be a leading centralized operating system for such devices in China. WeChat wants to fill this gap with an API that aims to become the de facto wearable OS there. WeChat's software is intended to provide a frictionless experience for wearable device users. With hundreds of millions of smartphone owners in China already using WeChat's messaging app, its API enables users to log into WeChat and removes the need to download a standalone app.

Tencent, WeChat's parent company, recently opened up its API for WeChat logins, as first noticed by China Internet Watch.

A recent report from the Credit Suisse Group projects that the annual global market for wearable devices may reach $30 billion (£17.5 billion, AU$31 billion) or up to $50 billion (£29 billion, AU$53 billion) within the next two or three years.

Meanwhile, WeChat is also looking to become a centralized data hub or data exchange for health information. The company has reportedly requested that its hardware partners share health data so it can be synchronized on multiple devices. By integrating with third-party manufacturers, WeChat can serve as a centralized data hub or data exchange whereby devices can tap into and use pre-existing health and fitness data collected from other WeChat-compatible devices.

For example, a wearable device using WeChat's API could offer up the best types of workouts for an overweight user based on information collected from other users on WeChat-connected devices.

It appears, however, that WeChat's relationship with hardware may extend beyond fitness and health devices. There's also evidence that the company has been scooping up product developers and preparing for an entrance into home automation, according to a WeChat product designer's LinkedIn page.

Considering WeChat has publicly acknowledged that the company is interested in "connecting everything," WeChat's foray into fitness and health tech may be just the first step.

WeChat did not respond to a request for comment.


WeChat dives into wearables to start 'connecting everything' - CNET

Screenshot by CNET
 

We are likely to see quite a few tech giants coming out of China in the next 5-10 years.

They will be giant in the true sense of the word.

PS I bought into the company behind iHealth last year and sold out near the top early this year。Stroke of luck。:enjoy:
 
We are likely to see quite a few tech giants coming out of China in the next 5-10 years.

They will be giant in the true sense of the word.

PS I bought into the company behind iHealth last year and sold out near the top early this year。Stroke of luck。:enjoy:

What's iHealth? Looks like WeChat is becoming data terminal, it will expand to other field soon
 
What's iHealth? Looks like WeChat is becoming data terminal, it will expand to other field soon

iHealth is a family of mobile/wearable medical/health devices produced by Jiuanyiliao(stock code:002432)。
 
Check out this smart hotel room controlled entirely be WeChat


Paul Bischoff


1 hour ago
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On the sidelines of CES in Las Vegas, Ceasars Entertainment partnered up with WeChat to give tours of new smart hotel rooms at The LINQ, a local hotel and casino. Visitors could use an app inside WeChat to control lighting, thermostats, and curtains.

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The connected suites will be the first of many such hotel rooms from Ceasars catering to overseas Chinese. After arriving at the room, they just need to scan a QR code to get the app. The app, which operates as a WeChat official account, was developed by Silicon Valley-based Ayla Networks.

wechat-linq-ss-1-720x640.png


"For the LINQ suite the devices are controlled through WeChat exclusively, but Ayla-powered devices can basically be controlled by any app via any home hub that runs on Zigbee, Z-wave or Wi-Fi," says Sharon Chan, a public relations representative speaking on behalf of the project.

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In 2013, 300,000 visitors from Hong Kong and China travelled to Las Vegas, nearly doubling in the last two years. Ceasars said in a statement:

“ Collaborating with leading companies like Ayla and WeChat helps make our customers feel even more at home when they can interact in our resorts using technology and apps like WeChat that they use daily. ”

Ceasars operates 50 casinos across the US and four other countries.

The collaboration with Ceasars is one of many projects WeChat is using to study foreign markets outside of China for new opportunities. "We aim to build up an ecosystem for merchants to leverage on WeChat to implement O2O strategies and projects. The Casears hotel project is one of partners we are working with," Tencent spokesperson Limin Chen said. "Other projects that connect WeChat to the offline world include Easy Taxi official account implementation in Asia, Zalora project in Asia, and YOOX shopping accounts in the US, Italy, and China."

Check out this smart hotel room controlled entirely be WeChat

Post by Ayla Networks.

Editing by David Corbin
 
The era of IOT is coming...
 
WeChat made a drone that flies around and streams video to your friends

The most popular social messaging platform in China now has its own foldable drone.


BY APRIL GLASER @APRILASER

OCT 14, 2016, 3:20P

20161014-tencent-ying-drone.0.jpg


Tencent, the maker of WeChat, has a new drone on the way, expected to be available for sale by the end of October for $299.

The Ying drone will stream video directly to WeChat, the most popular messaging platform in China, which boasts over 800 million active users. The drone’s camera can capture 4K video and will stream at 720p HD quality.

It’s the first drone made by a large social media platform for the purpose of sharing footage directly with other users. Tencent partnered with Qualcomm — the company recently started making drone software — and the Chinese drone maker Zerotech to build the tiny aircraft.

WeChat’s entry into drones isn’t entirely unusual despite being known primarily as a messaging platform. In China, apps like WeChat aren’t single-use services like they are in the U.S. In the case of WeChat, people buy and sell things on the service, as well as using it as a media platform. In many ways, it concentrates much of the internet itself into the one app.

The Ying is a small, foldable quadcopter that weighs less than a pound and comes with a carrying case for people to easily slip in their backpack and use on the fly.

The largest consumer-end drone maker in world, DJI, is also based in China, and unveiled its own small foldable drone last month, the Mavic Pro, but it’s significantly more expensive, priced at $999. And the Mavic is heavier, weighing 1.6 pounds, although, DJI’s version is also loaded with gesture recognition software and artificial intelligence that can locate a person, dog, car or other object and follow it around.

WeChat has much more name recognition in China than DJI, and the new Tencent drone’s WeChat-ready setup might appeal to Chinese social media lovers who aren’t necessarily drone enthusiasts.

No word yet on whether the Ying drone will ever be available in the U.S.

http://www.recode.net/2016/10/14/13285604/wechat-drone-tencent-social-media-video
 
WeChat made a drone that flies around and streams video to your friends

The most popular social messaging platform in China now has its own foldable drone.


BY APRIL GLASER @APRILASER

OCT 14, 2016, 3:20P

20161014-tencent-ying-drone.0.jpg


Tencent, the maker of WeChat, has a new drone on the way, expected to be available for sale by the end of October for $299.

The Ying drone will stream video directly to WeChat, the most popular messaging platform in China, which boasts over 800 million active users. The drone’s camera can capture 4K video and will stream at 720p HD quality.

It’s the first drone made by a large social media platform for the purpose of sharing footage directly with other users. Tencent partnered with Qualcomm — the company recently started making drone software — and the Chinese drone maker Zerotech to build the tiny aircraft.

WeChat’s entry into drones isn’t entirely unusual despite being known primarily as a messaging platform. In China, apps like WeChat aren’t single-use services like they are in the U.S. In the case of WeChat, people buy and sell things on the service, as well as using it as a media platform. In many ways, it concentrates much of the internet itself into the one app.

The Ying is a small, foldable quadcopter that weighs less than a pound and comes with a carrying case for people to easily slip in their backpack and use on the fly.

The largest consumer-end drone maker in world, DJI, is also based in China, and unveiled its own small foldable drone last month, the Mavic Pro, but it’s significantly more expensive, priced at $999. And the Mavic is heavier, weighing 1.6 pounds, although, DJI’s version is also loaded with gesture recognition software and artificial intelligence that can locate a person, dog, car or other object and follow it around.

WeChat has much more name recognition in China than DJI, and the new Tencent drone’s WeChat-ready setup might appeal to Chinese social media lovers who aren’t necessarily drone enthusiasts.

No word yet on whether the Ying drone will ever be available in the U.S.

http://www.recode.net/2016/10/14/13285604/wechat-drone-tencent-social-media-video


Same drone like DJI Mavic but with 1/3rd price ??
 
Beijing’s Zero Zero Robotics launches world’s first ‘selfie’ drone

Founder says the US$599 device that shoots 4K video, serves as your own personal aerial photographer


PUBLISHED : Sunday, 16 October, 2016, 5:18pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 16 October, 2016, 9:55pm


When Wang Mengqiu, the founder of Beijing-based startup Zero Zero Robotics, told his friends two and a half years ago he wanted to build an artificially intelligent flying camera, they thought he was out of his mind.

“My friends asked, ‘so you’re going to have this device that lifts off your fingertips and just follows you around? You’ve got to be kidding’,” he said, “reminding me I’d never worked in hardware, that I didn’t know anything about manufacturing.”

But how Wang has proved his detractors wrong.

Established in 2014 in Beijing, Zero Zero Robotics has just officially launched its Hover Camera Passport, a US$599 portable artificially intelligent drone that shoots 4K video and serves as your own personal aerial photographer.

Unlike most aerial photography drones on the market, which can fly far and wide to capture a landscape view, Wang said the Passport was designed to photograph people.

“It will capture your life moments when you travel with your friends and loved ones. Passport allows you to capture yourself and the view behind you [hands-free],” he said.

But he says what sets the Passport apart from other drones on the market is its lightness, its foldable body, its enclosed propeller blades, and its artificial intelligence.

The propellers are fully enclosed in carbon fibre, allowing users to grab the device in mid-air and fly it in enclosed spaces without fear of hurting anyone close by.

And unlike drones that track users using stereo vision – defined as the perception of depth obtained by comparing visual information from two vantage points – the 242-gram flying device employs computer vision for facial recognition, thereby allowing it to lock on to a specific user and follow them around.

“It can track you from the front, the side or from behind,” Wang said. “[With the artificial intelligence software], it actually recognises objects in its view. It’ll draw boxes around every face it sees and you can double-click on which person it should follow. No other drones can do that.”

The Passport can also orbit around the user and spin 360 degrees to capture a panoramic photograph. Users who prefer to control its flight path can do so with an accompanying mobile app.


But the Passport is not without competition. The device is being pitched against DJI’s Mavic Pro, a US$749 foldable camera-drone the Shenzhen-based company launched last month.

The 734-gram Mavic Pro is almost three times the weight of the Passport, but has obstacle avoidance, a feature the Passport does not yet have. It also boasts almost three times the Passport’s 10-minute battery life.

“I do wish we could have improved the battery life more,” Wang said. “We promised eight minutes when we showcased our prototype in April, and now we can go 10. That’s 25 per cent better, but we’re not going to pat ourselves on the back.”

But while Zero Zero Robotics currently only has one device in its portfolio, Wang has ambitious plans.

“We want to do so much more in the personal robotics space,” he said, adding that the Passport was a first step towards more robots the company planned to build.

His vision of a personal robotics system at home starts with an aerial command centre – an eye in the sky, which issues commands to other devices around the home.

“Once a device is airborne above 1.5 metres, there are very few indoor obstacles – perhaps several humans and some pillars. Mobility becomes a lot easier when you can manipulate yourself in a 3-D [setting] ... there is a better view, better path-planning. Obstacle avoidance becomes easier,” he said.

A smart drone could easily give commands to robots on the ground that “don’t have to get very smart”, Wang said. “It just has to do what it does on the ground very, very well. The [airborne device] can be the one to plan out the path for the ground robot and tell it what obstacles it has to avoid.”

He added that the next-generation Hover Camera Passport, which he expects to release in about a year, would be a lot smarter.

“[The device] is going to be completely autonomous. It will be able to land and charge itself, and then automatically take flight and avoid obstacles while circling around a room,” he said.

http://www.scmp.com/tech/article/20...o-robotics-launches-worlds-first-selfie-drone
 

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