Having a popular website and apps is no longer enough for tech companies these days. To really ensure fans can stay for the long haul, you need to create an ecosystem that allows other developers to make applications that can run through your platform. After all, its this type of thing that has kept Facebook so popular with apps and games tied into its many services and also what has made Tencent’s WeChat such a big money-spinner in China.
Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is trying to do the same thing as they have announced Minis, a suite of miniature applications made by third-party developers that run inside of their app. Minis are apps built using HTML and allow developers to offer a variety of services, like movie ticket booking or studying apps. And those are only the ones that have just been announced, as the platform allows for almost endless integrations.
Snap announced seven Minis to start. They include an app to coordinate your schedule at the next Coachella music festival; a mini version of Headspace to meditate and send encouraging messages to friends; Movie Tickets by Atom for choosing showtimes, picking seats, and buying tickets; and Tembo, which lets students create flash card decks for studying.
Minis could be the big play by the company to ensure long-term relevance in a highly-competitive tech space and if they can find the right partners to develop innovative apps for the platform, they could certainly have a winner on their hands that will lure new users over as well.
Minis are not the only thing that the company announced, as The Verge has also revealed that there is a host of new features coming to Snapchat including a navigation bar for easy access to Snap Maps, as well as the displaying of more information for a business-like location, operating hours and review from TripAdvisor to make its maps feature even more useful.
There are also a lot of new features built around its camera app and some new games which the company has announced. All part of big plans the company has for Snapchat and definitely something which should make them a lot more competitive in taking on the big giants in this space. I probably still won’t find a reason to use Snapchat but I could be wrong if that killer integration comes along.
Last Updated: June 12, 2020
