WeChat is giving WhatsApp a run for its money in China. Within mainland China, this formidable WhatsApp competitor has well over 350 million users. The 70 million users WeChat has outside China make the total number of users relying on this messaging app quite massive, though only second to WhatsApp, which currently boasts of over 700 million users. WhatsApp is, without a doubt, not as popular in mainland China as WeChat is, and for a number of reasons. Read on to learn more.
Firstly, WeChat is the most popular texting and messaging app in China, which obviously makes it more preferable among the Chinese messaging app users, who make up the largest telecom market in the world. WhatsApp does not have a lot of users in China when compared to WeChat. For instance, India is the country with the largest number of WhatsApp users with its 70 million users, which pales in comparison to the more than 350 million WeChat users in China.
WeChat, unlike WhatsApp, has a strong presence in Asia, while WhatsApp is more popular in Western markets as well as the emerging markets of Brazil, India, and Mexico. Obviously, this means it is more likely to succeed in markets such as China.
WeChat, in comparison to WhatsApp, offers a broader range of services. WeChat offers a host of online services, including shopping, gaming, banking, and even booking doctor appointments, which has helped consolidate its popularity, especially in China, its primary market. WhatsApp services are limited to messaging, and this may be working against it in the battle for telecommunications space in China.
WhatsApp has had challenges establishing itself in China, where Facebook, WhatsApp’s parent company is banned. Consequently, Facebook’s attempts to make inroads into the country, especially given China’s views regarding collection of private information from the users, makes it less likely to succeed than WeChat, which is compliant with government policies regarding the monitoring of private communications.
WeChat was developed by a Chinese corporation, Tencent, unlike WhatsApp, which was developed in Ukraine. Obviously, this gave it an advantage in messaging communications market, especially since it was launched before WhatsApp could have a strong presence in the Chinese market.
WeChat is very popular in China among media organizations and bloggers, most of whom can use the app to connect with their readers through regular posts. More importantly, WeChat’s willingness to advance and incorporate new features into its platform obviously trump those by WhatsApp. Quite simply, WeChat has more to offer than WhatsApp, and that is what is keeping it popular among the Chinese.
Conclusion
The numbers clearly indicate that WeChat is the favorite messaging app in China.WeChat users in China are five times more than the greatest number of WhatsApp users in any country. This popularity within the country, in addition to its relentless innovations, have made WeChat more than a match for WhatsApp, whose uses pale in comparison to the broad selection of services WeChat offers to its users. In addition to the usual messaging role, WeChat also serves as a payment processor, a shopping app, and so forth.
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