Can Microsoft’s Super App challenge Apple and Google’s global mobile dominance?

Microsoft is reportedly creating a “super app” in order to compete with Apple and Google in both mobile search and the consumer services market. This one-stop smartphone app by Microsoft will offer a variety of services including shopping, messaging, web search, news feeds and more. The primary objective of developing a super app is to boost the company’s multibillion-dollar advertising business, and to attract more people to its Bing search engine, Teams, and other mobile services.

Microsoft Super App could be a game changer

Apple and Google currently hold the majority of the global app store market, with the App Store and the Google Play Store, respectively. These two behemoths are constantly expanding and strengthening their ecosystems, leaving no room for other players.

As Microsoft doesn’t have its own mobile app store, it has to rely on rivals to attract and retain users. The company is, however, developing its own mobile gaming store, but it won’t be available in the App Store anytime soon unless assorted governments mandate it.

The company is attempting to imitate Tencent’s successful mobile strategy. Top Microsoft executives are reportedly inspired by Tencent’s WeChat app, which combines messaging with shopping, online games, news, and a variety of services, including grocery ordering.

There is no official confirmation from Microsoft yet.

Google Chrome is the widely used search engine for mobile and tablet devices, with a market share of almost 96%. Google also pays billions of dollars to Apple every year, in order to maintain its position as Apple’s default search engine. In contrast, Bing holds a negligible 0.68% share of the global mobile/tablet search engine market. Therefore, the company is leaving no stone unturned to increase the user acceptance of BING. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, is said to be working on integrating Bing with the company’s other mobile products.