The bear case for Super-apps in India

Super-apps in India— as powerful as LEGO superman? | Photo by Esteban Lopez on Unsplash

Super-apps were in the news again in India. Facebook’s investment in Jio triggered immense speculation about the motives of the deal. One of the ideas going around was that this will bolster Jio’s push to be a “Super-app”.

Whatsapp is synonymous with the Indian internet with near universal reach amongst those who can afford smartphones. So, tech-nerds like me get delirious imagining the possibilities that could be unlocked if Whatsapp went ahead and launched a full-blown developer platform like WeChat did with mini-programs in China.

Beyond just Whatsapp, I was initially bullish on super-apps gaining traction in India but have since revised my opinion. My initial bull case post is below.

Super-apps are coming to the Indian Internet

My reasons (in short):

• Consumers get a “single-window” experience with consistent identity and payment tools
• A super-app also meant lower storage space which seemed important for low-end smartphone users. This, I believe was Tazpo’s hypothesis.
• On the supply side, app-makers get to ride on the distribution…