WeChat (and Weixin, its Chinese version) is one of WhatsApp’s greatest global competitors. With a combined 272 million monthly active users, it surpassed 100 million user accounts outside China in August last year.
Now, WeChat has chalked up another milestone by crossing the 100 million download mark on Google Play internationally. Poshu Yeung, vice president of the international business group at Tencent, which owns the messaging service, says in a statement that WeChat will continue to give its users “an easy-to-use, all-in-one experience.”
This comes as WeChat games were rolled out internationally recently, a crucial step in its evolution to become more like a social platform — and part of its strategy to differentiate itself from other messaging services.
The Google Play download milestone also comes after WeChat recently stepped up efforts to woo the Western market, in particular sharpening its focus on the US market, after quietly launching a campaign last month to reward users for recruiting their friends.
Related: WeChat is going international in a different way to WhatsApp: using games and commerce [Interview]
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