Microsoft is reportedly looking to enter the race to become America’s new super app provider.
While the software giant’s intentions — as well as those of other tech companies such as Twitter that have made similar gestures — are understandable given the size of the prize and widespread consumer appetite for a more consolidated mobile commerce experience, actually putting all the necessary pieces together will be an uphill slog for whoever tries to pull it off.
Said another way, if it were easy, somebody would have done it already.
The latest speculation stems from a report in The Information, citing unnamed people with direct knowledge of the discussions, that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has made a series of internal moves like integrating Bing search and Microsoft Teams and Outlook messaging in preemptive attempts to bundle its existing suite into something super app-like.
While pursuing this makes strategic sense for Microsoft, an assemblage of messaging and online collaboration features does not a super app make, as consumers expect much more.
According to the study “Super Apps For The Super Connected,” a PayPal and PYMNTS collaboration, one-quarter of all consumers indicated high interest, with 40% of high-earning millennials “very” or “extremely” interested in a super app — “a centralized user interface through which they can manage their lives, from interacting with friends to banking and everything in between.”
Get the study: Super Apps For The Super Connected
The Elusive Everything App
Microsoft is coming from behind in the super app race, having no presence in mobile — former CEO Steve Ballmer famously laughed off Apple’s new iPhone as too expensive and lacking a keyboard which he saw as turning off business users who were early mobile adopters.
According to The Information, Microsoft has been consistently outbid by Google as the default search engine for Apple iPhone, noting that “Microsoft has periodically bid on Apple’s mobile search contract, according to a former employee briefed on the situation, but Google has won the deal every time.”
Meanwhile, demand is building. As the study “Super Apps For The Super Connected” states, “96 million consumers across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany are highly interested in a super app — a centralized user interface through which they can manage their lives, from interacting with friends to banking and everything in between.”
This is especially true among digital-first millennials and bridge millennials, as we found that this group is highly connected, owning seven to eight devices on average, and that “their engagement with technology is purpose-driven and focused on the value, utility and enjoyment they receive from their digital experiences.”
A single app in the Tencent-WeChat model could hypothetically be a hit as the next step in lifestyles shaped by mobile interactions, but so far in the west, it’s PayPal that comes closest to delivering on this experience, although it’s missing the social and messaging components that have made WeChat part of everyday life in China and parts of the APAC region.
That’s not stopping U.S.-based social and tech platforms from trying. Elon Musk is also positioning his Twitter acquisition as an ideal platform to become a super app, saying in an October tweet that “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.”
To super app naysayers, Musk also tweeted “they said I couldn’t buy Twitter” and has suggested that his Twitter acquisition “probably accelerates X by 3 to 5 years,” but his brash style has unsettled the platform, making projects like super app “X” doubtful anytime soon.
Also read: Elon Musk Super Far From Goal of Twitter Super App
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