Elon Musk

inbetween said:
X.com was the original name for Musk's company that eventually merged to become PayPal and this is where he made his first money. He has a lot of history on this and especially in the payments market but very few people will know about it.

I think it actually makes sense because at the moment the payments market is fragmented. If you have an iPhone then you will make payments using Apple Pay but if you have an Android phone then you will use Google Pay. If you don't like either of these then tough you have no choice, you cannot make a phone based contactless card payment without them.

It has nothing to do with targeting some mixture of social media and finance but rather it's all about having everything in one place. Bringing it all into one place makes sense and it makes even more sense if you don't want to rely on being tied to Google or Apple just because you bought a phone made by them.

My guess is X will become a common payment provider which is independent of big companies like Google or Apple and it'll also become your common social media which is independent of the Meta ecosystem whose social media sites come with massive privacy concerns.

I really wouldn't be surprised if X made its own phone in the future as that seems to be where it's heading. There's a big hole in the market for a phone ecosystem that isn't forceably tied to these massive and what have been proven to be relatively dodgy companies.
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I have an iPhone, but until fairly recently i used Android....yes i have Apple Pay, and used to used Google Pay...however most electronic payments i make are "tap" payments via my phone/bank, they arent Apply Pay. If purchasing something via a website, yes there are Apple/Google pay options...but theres also Paypal or just debit/credit card.

I really dont think theres a big market for a new phone ecosystem....ultimately thats what Android is...sure you can get Samsung Pay for their phones
 
I'm With Stupid said:
No, it would be forcibly tied to another massive and relatively dodgy company.
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Meta is a company that collects and sells your data to anyone and Google is the same albeit they use it to shape their search engine and ads so that they can target you best. What does Twitter do or perhaps what does X plan to do in the future that is dodgy? I haven't seen any plans for data collection and selling as a business model, if it is then they'll be no better and I won't be using it.

I can recall the media were highly critical of Musk sacking people at Twitter but then 3 months later Meta sacked 11,000 people and of course there was no outrage. Unfortunately it seems that people are taking their political identity poison pills again. I'm not a fan of Musk in every respect but I'll always back someone who challenges the status quo.

At the very least this represents competition to the big Silicon Valley monopolies on everything from social media to payments to phones. If there is no competition then the below is what you will have to accept if you want to participate in society online. (this shows when you sign up to Threads btw).

ThreadsPrivacy-Instagram.jpg
 
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Ashton Moss Messi said:
Maybe trying to do a better version of WeChat - the Chinese use it for loads of stuff - chatting, sending, paying, messaging, etc
He could have called it Twatter, as he is.
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I believe the Chinese govn plumb it for information. But also that their social apps data, credit score etc. is used in when allying for jobs.

Almost like big brother
 
inbetween said:
Meta is a company that collects and sells your data to anyone and Google is the same albeit they use it to shape their search engine and ads so that they can target you best. What does Twitter do or perhaps what does X plan to do in the future that is dodgy? I haven't seen any plans for data collection and selling as a business model, if it is then they'll be no better and I won't be using it.

I can recall the media were highly critical of Musk sacking people at Twitter but then 3 months later Meta sacked 11,000 people and of course there was no outrage. Unfortunately it seems that people are taking their political identity poison pills again. I'm not a fan of Musk in every respect but I'll always back someone who challenges the status quo.

At the very least this represents competition to the big Silicon Valley monopolies on everything from social media to payments to phones. If there is no competition then the below is what you will have to accept if you want to participate in society online. (this shows when you sign up to Threads btw).

ThreadsPrivacy-Instagram.jpg
Click to expand...

All social media , iPhones, websites and apps harvest data to some degree. Doubt X will be any different. Using the whole Threads will harvest your data argument is to scare people off joining there.

I wasn’t arsed about Musk sacking people, doubt many other really was either. His company can do what he likes.

However, all I’ve seen from Twitter is more and more bots and trolls that the whole thing is beyond a cesspit now.
 
I don't have strong opinions on Elon really, but I do get annoyed at all the political nonsense that comes on my twitter feed when I only use it to keep up to date with horseracing news. I think its the best social media app so long as you are very liberal in your use of the block and mute button.

The X is a bit of a shit rebrand though, I liked the little bluebird.
 
Gorton_Tubster said:
History doesn't matter when you have the customers. Overnight they've become X customers, and if Musks plan to create a super app, a central place of commerce, where your finances are tied to your social media, then he may be on to a winner.
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This Twitter (X?) thread answers this much better than I can.

I’ll post what I can here but might as well read the whole thing





 
I was a huge Twitter user for years but it’ll take a monumental change to get me back on there. I’m only one person but I can’t be alone with this mindset.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
Yep, story.



Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
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His purchase has to be the worst business decision of all time. A company that was a year or so away from insolvency, a company that hardly ever makes a profit is one that makes a loss most of the while and that was twitter. And Musk paid £33billion pounds.
 
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inbetween said:
X.com was the original name for Musk's company that eventually merged to become PayPal and this is where he made his first money. He has a lot of history on this and especially in the payments market but very few people will know about it.

I think it actually makes sense because at the moment the payments market is fragmented. If you have an iPhone then you will make payments using Apple Pay but if you have an Android phone then you will use Google Pay. If you don't like either of these then tough you have no choice, you cannot make a phone based contactless card payment without them.

It has nothing to do with targeting some mixture of social media and finance but rather it's all about having everything in one place. Bringing it all into one place makes sense and it makes even more sense if you don't want to rely on being tied to Google or Apple just because you bought a phone made by them.

My guess is X will become a common payment provider which is independent of big companies like Google or Apple and it'll also become your common social media which is independent of the Meta ecosystem whose social media sites come with massive privacy concerns.

I really wouldn't be surprised if X made its own phone in the future as that seems to be where it's heading. There's a big hole in the market for a phone ecosystem that isn't forceably tied to these massive and what have been proven to be relatively dodgy companies.

The privacy concerns with Threads are massive. Threads is not a Twitter competitor, Threads is an AI backed data harvester which is reliant on your participation to survive. Threads is only free because you are the product. It will record your participation and then package you into a nice tidy profile which is sold to the highest bidder.

Imagine an election fought on the basis of what political leaders already know about you? Political organisations and campaigns could buy your profile and then use AI to graft ads that target you specifically... Whole campaigns could be shaped by live data, data that you maybe never consented to give. The only line between left and right or truth on that platform will be based upon whoever pays the most.

Anything made by Meta and offered for free should have a warning on the label in my opinion!
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I'm fine with Google pay as a payment app. Which I can also use on any Microsoft device and I'm sure there's a way to do it on apple too. If I really want a contactless POS transaction I can just use my bank card or a spare handset.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
We have a few here in Asia. They're typically an app that does loads of different things. So one that I have started as a taxi app, then did food deliveries, and now you can use it to pay in shops, shop online, book hotels, pay bills, buy insurance and it's also a banking app too. The AirAsia app similarly can be used for loads of things. I've got both of them and I still only use the taxi one for taxis and the plane one to book planes. I occasionally use the plane one to book taxis if it's cheaper. The one thing neither of them have is any sort of link to social media.

WeChat in China is the only one I know where social media is linked to all of that other stuff, and that is obviously fantastic if you're an authoritarian regime who likes to keep an eye on what people are saying online.
Click to expand...

I think the closest thing we have here might be Revolut. Which I’ve been using for a while now… it’s gone from being a cash app with good ForEx rates to being a one-stop shop for banking, exchange, payments, savings, wealth & investments, purchasing insurance, buying holidays, deals and discounts with retailers. The only thing it doesn’t have is any kind of social functionality and I really don’t see what it would gain from having it.

I don’t see how whatever Musk creates expects to be better than the very well established finance apps that already cover this space.
 
MCFC Wirral said:
But who got rich by giving all their money away? He’ll surely have some kind of idea, won’t he?
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It’s not his money, it’s Saudi and Russian money funding Twitter these days - it’s an investment in their sides to try and get Trump back in.
 
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