[paradite]

I mean those 1st party integrations directly listed in WeChat services page are probably good examples of services that "feel" nice to interact, because they are used by millions of people everyday and they are need to optimized and polished to be able to serve millions of users.

Here's a screenshot of the list, if you want to Google and check out some of them: https://imgur.com/a/KKEdliE

[InsideOutSanta]

There's a pretty big difference in what UX "feels nice" to East Asian audiences vs Western audiences. This video provides some insight into why this might be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSMFnJnY7EA

[sgoschi]

The comments make it seem like it's more a case of users tolerating it due to the apps usefulness. Interesting video though, haven't had any contact with Chinese apps, so that was enlightening.

[strogonoff]

Tolerance of bad UI because of its usefulness (or if it is the only available option due to approval process and/or lack of competition) strikes me as a time-tested approach in enterprise environments. I dread to imagine that, but in real life. Is that how it is for people in the most populous country?

[mathverse]

Minions of people use SAP daily that does not mean it's a nice thing to interact with.

[paradite]

I agree that numbers alone might not mean much, but I do think B2C apps with millions of users have a higher bar in terms of design and polish compared to B2B/ERP apps.

Also, fixed typo!

[HWR_14]

It's probably easier to switch jobs to avoid B2B apps you don't like than to avoid WeChat in China.

[mathverse]

But it's not like you can choose in China either :)

[TeMPOraL]

It's not like you can choose in the West either, either :).

Number one goal of any software service today is to make its offering exclusive in some way - exclusive content, exclusive deals, exclusive integrations, exclusive set of participants (network effects), going super-broad super fast because infinite VC money lets you keep operating at a loss indefinitely, etc.

[YuukiRey]

You're making it sound as if the difference in choice between China and western countries is negligible. Surely that's not the case? If every VC company tries to pull you into their walled garden, I can still choose from among a variety of said walled gardens.

I could be wrong of course, since I don't know how many AliPay and WeChat competitors there are.

[TeMPOraL]

> If every VC company tries to pull you into their walled garden, I can still choose from among a variety of said walled gardens.

When they play it right, you're forced to choose all of them, or at least a significant subset of them, so that their partially overlapping offering add up to the actual thing you need.

[z2]

The competitors at the consumer-facing super app level (with mini programs of varying awkwardness) include Meituan, XiaoHongShu, and to an extent, Toutiao, JD.com, and Baidu. But you don't need those gardens as a publisher if you're on Android--ironically because Google services are banned, there are over a dozen app stores to competing to fill the void. Compare that with the western duopoly of Apple App Store and Google Play.

[iforgot22]

That's all fine if the particular customers you want to reach are among the millions used to WeChat services.