The author of The First SuperApp: Inside China’s WeChat and the New Digital Revolution (“SuperApp”), Kevin Shimota, spoke to an WSCRC/WSCRF audience on July 13 to provide background and an explanation of many of the key premises of his new book about the Chinese app “WeChat.” “SuperApp” was released to the public on July 5th and our session was Kevin’s first official book talk since the launch of the book.
In the session, Kevin, a Bellingham native, traced his journey from UW to his role as International Market Development Manager for the Tencent app WeChat. Kevin regaled us with the history of how the app grew from a simple communication tool to what is undoubtedly among the most used apps in the world today—a veritable “SuperApp.” In addition, Kevin talked about the attributes that he would assign to a “superapp” and discussed why so many companies are trying to create such a product.
The book talk can be viewed on the WSCRC YouTube channel.