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Elon MuskannouncedWednesday that an early version ofvideo and audio callingis now available on X , formerly get laid as Twitter .
The move is another step toward Musk ’s goal of turning X into an “ everything app ” that can handle everything from on-line payment to news to intellectual nourishment delivery .
Per TechCrunch’sprevious clause :
It ’s also unclear how users will be able-bodied to sincerely sort call . For those who have gotten other entree to the feature , the alternative for allowing calls let in verified users , multitude you come and hoi polloi in your address book .
X no longer answer to postulation for comment after Musk ’s coup d’etat , only replying with an automated content to incoming crush interrogation , so we could n’t take for more item as to why X is introducing this feature article , and why now ?
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Sure , Musk has n’t been unsure about wanting to turn XTC into a platform like toChina ’s WeChat — a messaging app that has become a primal billet for all digital transaction , be they patronize or news or communications . But Musk ’s overarching vision for X has always been a fiscal help app .
Around the time Musk was buy Twitter , the billionaire key to his biographer Walter Isaacson what he think the platform could become . “ If you combine a societal web with a payments platform , you could create what I want X.com to be . ”
Musk rebrandedTwitter to Xin July , but X.com has been around since 1999 when it was a overture to PayPal . In those days , Musk thought X.com could be a one - break off everything - stock for all financial need , include banking , digital purchase , checking , acknowledgment cards , investments and loans .
Video and audio calling does n’t seem to necessarily coordinate with that finish . In fact , the idea of get a headphone call on a social media platform when you ’re just there to consume information rapidly is a bit jarring to the senses — double so if that call is coming from some random verified X user .
Tangentially , though , Musk could be contract a Thomas Nelson Page out of Uber ’s book of non - stop product announcements and adjudicate tocreate stickinesswithin X. Uber begin as a ride - hail service and then moved onto nutrient delivery . Now the ship’s company has expanded on those pillars , offering users the ability tocharter a gravy boat , return packages to the post officeandmake dinner reservations .
It ’s also similar to howAmazon has play the secret plan , using its other products , like Alexa , to drive secondary revenue to the inwardness occupation whenever a customer says , “ Alexa , regularize me another bulk turn of peanut butter . ”
Or it might not .
It all hinge on whether Musk is able to deliver on his broader design in the long run . Not only will it be a proficient trouble to solve , but the U.S. is n’t China . Regulators are sustain a close center on technical school caller to control no one house owns too much of the net .
