Problem: When traveling to other countries, users must download the localized versions of their apps in order to get around (e.g. Downloading Didi instead of Uber in China, Grab instead of Uber in Southeast Asia, or Careem instead of Uber in the Middle East). As apps rise as a form of interaction with localized worlds and individuals begin to travel more, familiarity with interfaces will become increasingly more important.
Solution: This business would work as an aggregator by unifying similar applications across domains in a familiar single pane of glass. For instance, it would work with Lyft to build partnerships with Didi, Grab, and Careem such that users can seamlessly open up the same global app (Lyft) but still utilize the same localized infrastructures that each regional player provides (Didi, Grab, or Careem).
In her 2016 talk at the RISE Conference, Tan Hooi Ling expanded on this vision:
Presumably the benefits for the customer are that they can use the same app to book when they're traveling… If you were a Grab user from Singapore and you're making a business trip or vacation trip to San Francisco you will be able to open up your Grab app with your pre saved payments options with the UI and the UX that you're extremely familiar with, land in the States, and get access to all the cars that Lyft already has signed up so that it was a completely seamless experience for you.
Why should technology only be available to Grab users? Moreover, how can this phenomenal idea be spread across the technology infrastructure to benefit even more users? That’s why this business of brokering international app conglomerates would be invaluable: it would unlock entirely new value for global travelers who still want to use the UI/UX to they are familiar with to navigate a completely foreign enviornment.
One of the clearest examples of this technology in action is actually in the applications of contact tracing apps in Europe to curb the spread of COVID19. As reported by TechCrunch in late 2020,
The European Union has switched on cross-border interoperability for a first batch of COVID-19 contacts tracing apps that use Bluetooth proximity to calculate the exposure risk of smartphone users after a pilot of the system last month.
National apps whose backends are now linked through the gateway service are Germany’s Corona-Warn-App, the Republic of Ireland’s COVID tracker, and Italy’s Immuni app.
This means a user of one of those apps who travels to any of the other countries can expect their national app to send relevant exposure notifications in the same way it should if they had not travelled — without the need to download any additional software.
Even this seemingly niche industry of healthcare interoperability solutions is quite large. As reported by GrandView Research, “The global healthcare interoperability solutions market size was estimated at USD 1.78 billion in 2018 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 13.0% over the forecast period [2019-2026].” Healthcare IT News is even more bullish, arguing that “Analysts predict that the market for global healthcare interoperability will reach $7.96 billion by 2024, as compared with $4.17 billion in 2019.”
It’s great to see this interoperability present in health care apps: now imagine if it was present in all consumer apps that you use. If this business could crack the secure, privacy-enabled, interoperability problem it would be a power-house, multi-million dollar service.
Monetization: Providing these services at a fee: companies would pay for relationships and access.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)