For every app like TikTok, which started with a popular trend in China that went global, there is a string of failures. Just about every messaging app in the world aspires to be a do-everything app like China’s WeChat, and almost none are. The ubiquitous digital payments in China may not catch on in many other places, as my colleague Raymond Zhong has discussed. And while I’ve heard a lot of magical thinking that restaurant delivery services can get huge in America, as they are in China, it’s unlikely. Digital trends are constantly in flux both in China and the rest of the world.

Source: New York Times November 16, 2020 17:15 UTC