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by jeyoor 3567 days ago
It seems that markets such as India and China[1] are more comfortable with apps packed with numerous features (i.e. WeChat or LINE), whereas US apps seem to usually be more focused on minimalism [2]. Snapchat is a notable US counter-example.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/technology/china-mobile-te...

[2] https://blog.benroux.me/your-app-has-one-feature/

2 comments

Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong all have fantastic mobile infrastructure, unlike anything offered in the US.

Innovators there don't have to code with data caps in mind.

Minimalism with associated lighter data requirements is a US market peculiarity.

That's not really a feature that people are "comfortable with", that's because Chinese Internet has been captured by monopolists, like the AOL of USA in the 1990s.
I doubt that's all there is to it, there really are some cultural differences that show when you take western services and put them on the chinese market.

Amazon for example found that their site simply looked too "clean", had too much whitespace, for the chinese market. All that empty space was not taken as a clean look by users, but as a sign that there weren't a lot of products available. If I go to amazon.com now, there are literally 5 products on the landing page. On amazon.cn, more like 30-50.

(I am recounting this story as it was told by an Amazon employee who came to my Uni a while back)