Smartisan-backed Chinese messaging app that aimed to dethrone WeChat bites the bullet
- While the app enjoyed a meteoric rise in its early days, Liaotianbao has struggled to keep users on its platform
Liaotianbao, formerly known as Bullet Message, once a fast-rising app that some people saw as a potential challenger to China’s dominant messaging app WeChat, dismissed 200 employees on Tuesday, according to a local media report.
Only a few dozen employees remain and these may be transferred to the app’s backer Smartisan, according to an online report by 36kr.com, which cited multiple sources. Chinese smartphone maker Smartisan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Smartisan officially launched the app in August 2018 and is an investor in Kuairu Technology, the Beijing-based firm which originally developed Bullet Message.
Once seen as an aggressive new player in China’s social media market, Liaotianbao faced a “David and Goliath” style battle with Tencent Holdings’ WeChat, which has become China’s ubiquitous do-it-all app with more than 1 billion users worldwide.
While the app enjoyed a meteoric rise in its early days, Liaotianbao has struggled to keep users on its platform. Only less than 14 per cent of Liaotianbao’s users remained on the app a week after they downloaded it, according to a January report by Chinese data provider Getui.
“It was heavily weighted towards Smartisan users and was never a serious threat,” said Matthew Brennan at China Channel, a Shenzhen-based marketing agency. Allen Zhang [WeChat’s head] claimed he didn't even bother to download it. I think that's probably true.”