Path 3.0 chat
Several days ago Dave Morin revealed the new Path 3.0. If you haven’t read about or tried it, yet, just watch the video. In his blog post Dave talks about the big new feature: “private messaging – the Path take on it”. But looking at the features I was strangely reminded of an app I’m already using for quite some time, even daily since January.
Those of you keeping an eye on the Chinese app market should know it. It’s WeChat/WeiXin, the most popular (mobile) social network in China nowadays, which recently hit the 300M user mark after only two years. In comparison Path announced 5M in December 2012.
WeChat PTT
WeChat started as a mobile messaging app copying the big incumbent WhatsApp. At that time the most prevalent social network in China used to be Weibo. It quickly added functionality like PTT (push-to-talk) – copied from TalkBox -, custom emoticons, which are prevalent in nearly every Asian app out there, and a mobile social network like functionality called Moments, heavily influenced by Path. WeChat then moved on to quickly iterating on its features and adding additional unique functionality. Notably, the use of QR codes for adding friends, which has recently lead to QR codes at every corner in China, advertising stores’ and brands’ WeChat accounts. Also, my favorite function, Web Chat, with it’s unique QR based authentication method – you just scan a QR code in your desktop browser with WeChat app and press OK.
WeChat Moments
WeChat became so prevalent throughout the smartphone-wielding Chinese that meeting new people in China (or Chinese outside of China) quickly gets to a point of someone uttering the phrase “Add me on WeChat!”. Through above-mentioned brand accounts it even has some monetization strategies that none of its competitors feature, yet.
Now we see Path taking the less taken route of copying Asian apps (here: WeChat, Line, Kakao Talk) and quickly getting to some revenue in just 24h. However, Path is at least in parts actually bringing “the Path take on it”. Besides copying (back) WeChat it includes a pretty unique and simpler way of sharing location, and added some features from its main social network functionality, namely direct sharing of songs, books, and movies.
We have seen a similar approach recently in Facebook’s Messenger app integrating voice capabilities. There were even rumors and indications that they were trying out the “shake to find people around you” function of WeChat. Hamish McKenzie of PandoDaily recently called Facebook Messenger “the new Facebook”. He, like Jon Russell of TNW, are some of the more prominent writers, who see this new trend of Western startups being influenced by players from the East.
Usually, when we talk about “copycats”, we think of the much discussed and hated blatant clones of services like Groupon, Fab.com, and others, which made German players, like the German Samwer brothers rich and famous and gave the German startup scene a bad reputation of not being innovative. In reaction to that, especially here in Cologne, we have rallied for less copycats and more innovative ideas, which is mirrored in more authenticity in our startup events.
However, looking more closely at the ongoing “influencing” mechanisms between East and West, I think we can see something that surpasses the negatively inclined copycat style and – at least looking at the overall progress of these apps – leads us to some new form of innovation. I like to think of it as “Cross-Competitor Innovation”. It’s a new type of agile learning from others successes and not blatantly copying them, but trying to incorporate best-practices and iterate on those in a way coherent with regard to your own market and value proposition
This new innovation form has been quite prevalent in the highly competitive and fast-moving Asian market. With the big players from Asia now getting more publicity in the West, we see our western incumbents getting into the game, too.
