AoIR2023-submission-template.docx


Selected Papers of #AoIR2023:
The 24th Annual Conference of the

Association of Internet Researchers
Philadelphia, PA, USA / 18-21 Oct 2023

SUPER-APPIFICATION: CONGLOMERATION IN THE
MOBILE ECOSYSTEM

Fernando van der Vlist
University of Amsterdam

Anne Helmond
Utrecht University

Michael Dieter
University of Warwick

Esther Weltevrede
University of Amsterdam

“Super apps” are emerging and gaining popularity worldwide, especially in Southeast
Asia, India and Africa (Heath, 2021; Schumpeter, 2022). They are “do-everything apps
that bring together an expansive suite of services within a single interface” (Steinberg et
al., 2022) and, therefore, become “more integrated into people’s lives.” While the term
super app can be ambiguous, reflecting industry hype and speculative investment
(Pitre, 2022), it nevertheless speaks to the complexity of conglomeration processes
occurring in the mobile ecosystem. In particular, it highlights the organisation, political
economy, and geopolitics of the process of platformisation within the app economy,
including how forms of platform expansion and encapsulation are culturally,
geographically, and historically specific (cf. Steinberg, 2020). As such, the rise of super
apps (or super-appification) raises questions about the geo-historical distinctiveness of
their platform architectures and business models, and how they facilitate modes of
capital accumulation in today’s global economy.

With their capacity to merge and expand services and users within a single unified
experience, emerging studies of super apps have focussed on themes of enclosure and
media concentration as they intensify the “appification” of everyday life (Morris & Elkins,
2015; Morris & Murray, 2018) and take on the role of a seemingly indispensable critical
infrastructure (Athique, 2019, Dieter et al., 2021). They are described in this context as
“all-in-one apps” (Chen et al., 2018), “Swiss-army-style apps” (Steinberg, 2020) or
Suggested Citation (APA): van der Vlist, F., Helmond, A., Dieter, M., & Weltevrede, E. (2023, October).
Super-Appification: Conglomeration in the Mobile Ecosystem. Paper presented at AoIR2023: The 24th
Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers. Philadelphia, PA, USA: AoIR. Retrieved
from http://spir.aoir.org.



“do-everything apps” that represent “a particular model of an app that assumes most
functions of the smartphone can be done within either a single app or a suite of apps”
(Steinberg et al., 2022). Initial studies of super apps, moreover, have questioned the
novelty associated with the term; they are not necessarily considered the “next level up
for apps” but rather foreground “the dominance of some digital platform companies”
(Goggin, 2021: 74). In this sense, super apps have also been understood as the
outcome of specific corporate strategies, including conglomeration and financialisation
(Jia et al., 2022). This might be considered with ongoing concerns around the
consolidation of power by very large platform corporations, or even monopolies, and the
need to protect public values and institutions (Van Dijck, 2021; Van der Vlist, 2022).
Super apps, however, are uniquely viewed within this context as a particularly
aggressive horizontal and locally-oriented business strategy compared to the vertical
and globally-oriented strategy of US/Silicon Valley-based apps (Atkins, 2019). They are,
finally, often associated with non-Western companies and can be seen as efforts to
counterbalance US “platform imperialism” (Jin, 2015) in smartphone devices, software
operating systems and app stores, i.e. Apple and Google.

Approach

While most of the emerging literature on super apps focuses on Chinese and
Southeast-Asian apps and companies such as Tencent’s WeChat—“the poster child for
super apps” (Chan, 2022)—this study offers a more comprehensive understanding of
the phenomenon by looking at super apps from around the world (cf. Pitre, 2022).
Specifically, it examines and discusses (1) what “super apps” are, (2) by whom they
were developed, (3) when they were created or how they evolved over time, and (4)
where—in which countries or regions or parts of the world—they have emerged. It
builds on previous app studies research projects that have developed approaches to
study mobile apps and their history and evolution using app stores, web archives, and
app repositories (Dieter et al., 2019; Helmond & Van der Vlist, 2021). Together, these
four complementary perspectives provide an expanded understanding and discussion of
the super app, not just as a particular type of app, but what we call a process of
super-appification that leads to distinct app constellations (cf. Staykova & Damsgaard,
2016).

Varieties of Super Apps

Building on previous research on super app “variations” in Asia (Steinberg et al., 2022),
we contribute a typology of these super-app constellations based on the distinct
features identified in a collection of 40 super apps from around the world. This typology
provides the basis for our discussion of the local or regional differences between apps,
their historical emergence, their modes of capital accumulation, and the challenges and
implications arising from them.

For instance, super apps from non-Western countries or regions primarily evolve out of
financial services, mobility, or telecommunications (Ajene, 2020). These origins enable
rentier business models and strategies of capital accumulation, such as taking
commission fees on payments and gig work (e.g., ride-hailing). They can also use
partnerships to operate between and expand across regions. For example, the South



African super app VodaPay (by Vodacom) recently partnered with the Chinese Alipay
(by Alibaba) to offer its services in South Africa and Egypt. Alternatively, some super
apps such as the Russian platform VK offer localised app versions to operate between
and across countries to meet different regulatory obligations.

Overall, the rise of super apps and their integration into people’s everyday lives invites
us to delve deeper into the relatedness and situatedness of apps (Dieter et al., 2019),
breaking with their conception as isolated, stand-alone software applications. They
motivate, in particular, an investigation into the unique processes of conglomeration
unfolding in the mobile ecosystem, focusing on the different objects being combined,
how the different modules of a super app are connected, and how these processes are
shaped through existing infrastructure, market conditions and regulatory frameworks.

References

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