We spoke with Alexander Kachanovskiy, the COO of Gem Space, to find out how the team behind the super app decides which features to implement in the near future, how to maintain user safety and privacy, and how super apps are changing traditional models of communication and content consumption.
Alexander, let’s start with the main question: why did Gem Space choose the super app path?
People find it more convenient when all the services they need are bundled into one application. Around 2021, this trend shifted from being Asian-specific to global: users have grown accustomed to solving a variety of tasks within a single super app.
Under one icon, we’ve gathered messaging, blogs, delivery services, product and service payments, wallets, and other mini-applications. We are building a financial and service ecosystem around our users that has everything they need.
Users prefer super apps because all the important, necessary, and beloved microservices are collected in one application. This saves phone memory, but more importantly — your time.
This approach also allows us to find major partners and enter new markets: for example, Gem Space will soon help the promising fintech startup C-Wallet expand its range of financial services in Qatar, including payment processing technologies and money transfers between individuals and legal entities. This is an important step, not only for our business but also for the region’s economy as a whole.
How do you decide what to focus on in the product?
First and foremost, we add features that make user communication simpler. For example, recording voice messages is very convenient, but listening to them isn’t always, even though it’s necessary!
That’s why we implemented voice message transcription with a single tap: one tap on the screen, and everything your conversation partner has said is converted into text. Moreover, this works regardless of the language the audio is recorded in: Gem Space’s built-in translator can handle English, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian languages in seconds.
How do new features appear in Gem Space?
We keep an eye on market developments, gather analytics, receive direct requests from users, read many product reviews, and listen to them. This led to Gem Space introducing the ability to call users not registered in the app: to connect with a counterpart, you need to go to “Contacts” in your profile and select who you want to hear. Then, Gem Space automatically creates a link — send it to the user and communicate via audio or video.
Meanwhile, the speaker is heard clearly, without noise and interference, and you can continue to use the internet during the call. No special (and usually expensive) tariffs and paid subscriptions, no roaming — call anywhere you want and talk without time limits. If the call is important, it can be recorded and saved — of course, for free. All you need is the internet.
Does this “open” approach affect user safety?
We understand the importance of privacy. In our Spaces and chats, people talk with families, colleagues, and friends, and exchange messages with like-minded individuals. This is communication at different levels — with some contacts, it’s nice to be friends, while with others, you wouldn’t want to go beyond work and business communication.
To separate work and personal life, we have made flexible privacy settings. Here you can choose which contacts can call you, see your avatar and profile information, as well as your last online time.
So, are all the basic functions in Gem Space free?
Not just the basic ones. We want as many important services as possible in the app to be free for the user. Each year, the number of such services in Gem Space grows because the model of communication, content creation, and consumption is changing. Users want more than just messengers or video conferencing apps: they need a “supermarket” of services that fulfills all their communication needs. And this is exactly what we’re working on at Gem Space.
For instance, we added GemAIBot — a bot for creating texts and images. Our bot understands any prompts well and processes up to 10 requests per day from one user for free, while creating AI content in other services requires costly accounts.
Everything works without VPNs and other complications — no need for workarounds or to leave the app. This is how we see the development of super apps, and what we want to share with our audience: everything essential and important should always be at your fingertips, in one product.
