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Back in 2011, as the smartphone space came to dominate the tech sector, Tencent launched its mobile messaging app WeChat. According to a Business Insider profile, although it started as a simple, WhatsApp-like service, “it grew explosively as it expanded into a kind of super-app that takes the place of Uber, GrubHub, Venmo, Craigslist, and a whole bunch of other services.”16 This super-app structure began in 2017, when WeChat launched its Mini Program or Mini-app feature, which allows developers to build pre-approved lightweight apps that are embedded within WeChat and function as an extension of it. The mini-apps proved incredibly popular as they allowed customers to use external services with just four clicks and without leaving WeChat or downloading a new app.
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Venkat Atluri (The Ecosystem Economy: How to Lead in the New Age of Sectors Without Borders)