Quartz says it all:
The world’s most popular messaging apps are mirror images of each other. WhatsApp, purchased by Facebook on Wednesday for $19 billion, prides itself on doing one thing well—offering a messaging service free of ads, games, and gimmicks. Its China-based competitor WeChat, owned by internet giant Tencent, strives to be everything at once: a platform for chatting, shopping, gaming, and even banking. Users can send a Lunar New Year’s “red envelope” of digital cash, buy a soda from a vending machine, book a doctor appointment or hail a taxi.
