If the super app is the “glue” that holds the connected economy together, then messaging and chat functions are the glue that hold the super app together.
News came on Tuesday (March 8) that Amazon has launched Amp, which in effect lets users create “radio shows.” In creating those shows, the app’s users can utilize the millions of songs available through Amazon. Popular artists including Nicki Minaj are developing content for the app.
And in a blog post announcing Amp, Amazon said that the app enables these radio show hosts to invite live callers to join their programs. “Amp is creating built-in discovery and notifications, so listeners can find and follow creators and upcoming shows,” the eCommerce giant said.
Hosts can take callers, with control over who speaks and when.
“In the future, Amp plans to add even more—everything from Alexa integrations to social sharing to innovative new search and discovery features that will connect listeners with the creators delivering the content they are looking for on the dial,” Amazon said in the post.
That’s a telling roadmap — one that speaks to the “real time” interaction and communication. The audio/chat functions, and the music focus bring Amazon further afield from its roots as a platform that brings buyers and sellers together.
By allowing content creators, streaming functions and chat all come together, with music as a centerpiece …well, that goes a long way toward cementing a new ecosystem, and linking a broad range of online/offline channels.
Moving Beyond Buyers and Sellers
Music, of course, lends itself well to the hardware components of Amazon’s offerings such as the Echo. The Amazon Prime memberships may get a boost through folks looking to buy music they’ve heard through the app. The cross-pollination will likely increase as Amp broadens its sharing and communications presence.
In the meantime, as PYMNTS research has shown, U.S. consumers are increasingly desirous of having those super apps at the ready. As we have found, 67% of consumers — that’s 173 million people — want an app that manages their digital activities, while another 11% want an app that manages their entire digital lives. We’d contend that Amazon would fit into that latter segment.
And for the “convenience seekers” who would conceivably be most enamored of that horizontally-integrated app, the rewards would accrue to Amazon and the merchants and firms under its umbrella: Convenience seekers take in more yearly income than other consumers, with 46% of them earning greater than $100,000 a year.
Read also: Are You Among the 173M Americans Who Want a Super App?
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