According to Musk, the Twitter name is too small for future service
Tech billionaire Elon Musk explained the renaming of Twitter to X as part of his far-reaching plans for the platform. In the coming months, among other things, the platform will add the ability to conduct any kind of financial transaction there, Musk wrote early Tuesday morning. There will also be comprehensive communication features. «This isn’t a case of a company changing its name but continuing to do the same thing,» he emphasized.
The name Twitter was appropriate when the main purpose was to publish 140-character short messages. In view of the planned new functions, however, it would have to give way. Musk had said several times that he wanted to build an "app for everything" with the name X based on Twitter. However, there have been hardly any concrete steps in this direction so far. The best-known example of a super app that can run almost the entire digital life is WeChat in China.
Musk had announced the name change over the weekend, and on Monday the familiar Twitter logo with the blue bird was replaced by a new one with the letter X, at least on the web version of the platform. However, the web address is still Twitter.com - and there are many remnants of Twitter elsewhere on the website and in the smartphone apps.
Musk had bought Twitter in October for around $44 billion. He recently admitted that advertising revenues were only half of what they were before. Given the broad app ecosystem that has grown over the years, Musk's plans for X would pit him against established rivals in communications and financial apps.
On the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time he's swum against the tide. As Tesla CEO, for example, he backed electric cars, while the rest of the industry didn't think the vehicles were economical. And his space company SpaceX changed the industry with reusable rockets. (SDA)
