On standard Android:
Iām chatting with my wife on FB messager. She sends a link to a restaurant I should check out. It opens in FB messenger html wrap-around thingy. I click the 3 dots. Tell it to open in the normal browser because it sucks in the FB messenger thing. It goes to the webpage and I can see the menu. I want to know where it is. I click the link for the map, then click the map to open in Google Maps so I can see where it is. I agree to new user Terms of Service. Now I can see the location. Cool, I can look at reviews, too. Nice. I go to book a reservation which means I need to open back the webpage. It tells me I have to download an app for that so I do that and set up an account and do that to book at this one restaurant because there are about 6 of these kinds of services and there is no telling which restaurant uses which one. Nice, itās all set. Then I open yet another app to get a ride-share and agree to their new terms of service (love how this seems to happen once a month in each app in the west). Now I can go eat at the restaurant. They take cash or credit but no apple pay/ samsung pay / google pay. Awesome.
So yeah, pretty much the same experience you get in China, I can see where they are 1:1.
EDIT: I have 3 different parking apps on my phone because there is no single one in my city. Depending on where you park itās a different fucking app. I got to the next city over for something? Cool, download a new fucking parking app.
> Using Facebook
Well thereās your problem.
Instead, your wife can send you the Google Maps link that automatically opens the Google Maps app where you can see reviews, reserve the table and find a convenient shortcut to the ridesharing app. I rarely see terms of service updates.
because there are about 6 of these kinds of services and there is no telling which restaurant uses which one
The same could easily apply in China. Does this restaurant have reservations set up with WeChat? Or do you have to switch to AliPay or something else for it? Thatās not a problem solved by super-apps, itās a problem solved by the maps app (or maps sub-app in the super-app) working with more restaurants. Also, for both reservations and parking, weāre basically talking about which country has a larger monopoly on those services. The fact that you need 3 different parking apps means your city doesnāt having a single parking monopoly.
āWell you are using westernapp, thereās your problem!ā
Big brained reply moment.
Look, the point is Google reservation donāt work at all these restaurants. It depends on the restaurant and which of the 6 different app/services they use. You say the same could apply to China and yet your solution is the same for the Chinese apps. Additionally, China could regulate it so all vendors have to be able to use any of these 2 or three apps and could force them all to API integrate with each other. In fact, I would not be surprised to see such a thing in coming years there. Will never happen here.
But keep coping, brother.
āWell you are using westernapp, thereās your problemā
I mean Facebook specifically. Itās shit at everything.
You say the same could apply to China and yet your solution is the same for the Chinese apps.
Yeah, because my point is that thereās no difference between a super-app and a tightly integrated phone OS or set of apps for these kinds of things.
Additionally, China could regulate it so all vendors have to be able to use any of these 2 or three apps and could force them all to API integrate with each other. In fact, I would not be surprised to see such a thing in coming years there.
Are they working on that law right now? What has changed recently that makes that more likely than 5-10 years ago?
Interpreting that as requiring open APIs, obviously more open APIs would very much help with that kind of integration, but right now it seems like itās all based on the creator of the ecosystem (Apple, Google, Tencent, Alibaba) working with individual establishments or more specific apps to offer as much as possible. Iām sure restaurants have a similar process to get fully integrated in Apple or Google Maps as they do to get fully integrated into WeChat or Alipay. The main difference I can see there is the number of restaurants working with those ecosystems, which has nothing to do with whether the ecosystem is a super-app or a set of apps built into an OS.
Interpreting it as requiring restaurants and such to work specifically with WeChat and/or Alipay, that just sounds like granting a legal monopoly/duopoly to those couple of companies. If it were state run that might be great, but Tencent and Alibaba arenāt state run.
