Everyone has some mobile app that they use, ranging from cooking to entertainment, and each one serves a different purpose. This year in 2021 alone Uber and TikTok are the two most popular apps by downloads and users, both are vastly different in their uses. Uber is a everyone service based transportation business and TikTok is more of an entertainment business, as seen in the next two paragraphs.
Uber is global transportation provider that is run out of San Francisco, California. The app offers a variety of options from ride-hailing, food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package delivery, couriers, freight transportation, electric bicycle and motorized scooter rental through Lime, and ferry transport in partnership with local operators. They are a commission based company, meaning that of the price of each ride,, they get 25%; and the prices change depending on the local supply and demand. Uber, in 2021, had over 100 million monthly active; and they cornered 68% of the USA ride-sharing and 26% of the food delivery markets. In fact, they have become so big that the term “uberisation” was coined to describe the companies in the sharing economy in the service industries that use computing platforms and some companies are even classifying some of their services as “Uber for X”.
I personally do not use this app, but The Ultimate Guide to Uber and Earning Maximum Points says that if you use the Platinum American Express Credit Cards, they give you $15 in Uber Credit each month plus $20 in December, but these credits don’t transfer to the next month. The website also says that shopping at participating places of business gives you Uber credit. Another way to upgrade your experience according to Business Insider, is to bookmark your favorite place, schedual in advance, order food on the way home, and connecting your calendar to the app to know when and where you need to be. This seems to show that Uber is aimed toward working adults that need cheap transportation that do not or cannot own a car; or they need food delivered to a specific place at a specific time but they cannot physically come get the food at the time of pickup.
TikTok, or Douyin in the Chinese market – was released in 2017 – according to Influencer Marketing Hub, is a video app that is owned by Chinese ByteDance company. The platform allows for the user to upload short 15 to 120 second videos in a variety of genres such as dance, comedy, drama, and education. Then in 2018, it merged with Chinese social media platform Musical.ly, thus causing it to become a global company.
Even though TikTok and Douyin have similar user interface, they have no shared content – meaning that their servers are completely separated, so it seems – and their servers have different server bases. These companies are aimed at teenagers and children from ages 5 to 17, but will accommodate anyone who wants to join. TikTok at this point cannot be searched by face recognition, or offer features such as buying, booking hotels and geo-tagging like Douyin can. At this point, TikTok has far surpassed 2 billion global mobile downloads and is ranked as the one fastest growing social media app. I also have never used this app, but Later Blog says that the top five ways to get the most out of the app are to Be Quick on The Trends, Choose a Niche, Prepare and Practice, Immerse Yourself on The App, and Tell A Story. They also say to post often, be the first and don’t give up are some ways to get the most out of the app; and that is all for today in this Mobile Apps post, see you in the next one.
