The newest kid on the personal communication app scene is WeChat. Having burst on to the global market after a lengthy incubation in China, the Tencent-owned startup is proving to be one of China’s most promising players on the tech scene, and it is threatening to take Whatsapp’s lunch money. The latest figures are that WeChat has racked up 300 million followers (almost 50 million of whom are outside of China), which means that WeChat has pipped Whatsapp for the pole position in chat app userbase.

Obviously Whatsapp remains dominant for the time being in global markets outside of China, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t worry, for two reasons.

Tencent’s quarterly earnings were released recently, pegging the company $1,4 billion up from the last quarter, year on year. And that’s interesting news for South Africans, because Cape-based media powerhouse, Naspers happens to own 33% of Tencent, and the news of their quarterly earnings pushed Naspers’ stock up 6% in the days after the announcement. WeChat doesn’t just have a strong userbase – it has real money earning potential.

Which brings us to the second reason why Whatsapp should worry. WeChat is embarking on an energetic expansion in to Southern Africa, which is not surprising, given the success of P2P chat applications in this part of the world, and that Naspers owns a stake in Tencent.

Which means that you can get WeChat on Android, here, on iOS, here, BlackBerry, and Windows mobile.

Check it out. Let us know what you think.

UPDATE:

Since this post went up, the WeChat crew got in touch, and they’re keen to make a winner of one of you kids.

TO WIN:

• Download WeChat (see links above, or click here).
• Add me on WeChat. My ID is — > Seth2oceansvibe. That’s it, just add me.
• For an extra entry tweet this post using the hashtag #WeChatZA

PRIZE:

The miracle of WeChat is that it removes the worry of a traditional, unscheduled phone call. It’s all on your terms, chatting to who you want, when you want. In that spirit, we’re not giving you a phone. Oh no, we’re giving you so much more.

The state-of-the-art 16GB iPod Touch Black! 

Because it’s time you stopped calling, and started chatting.

Check out the prize details, here.

T’s & C’s apply.

COMPETITION CLOSED! 

Congrats to Bryce Gillespie for nailing the lucky draw!