Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
Attention versus service
Take any digital business and split its revenue into two parts: what comes from the user's attention in the app, including ads and upselling, and what comes from the underlying service. Ride-sharing, food delivery, travel agencies, and Amazon all sit toward the attention end. One reading of that split is simple. Picture a business that earns 70 percent from ads and 30 percent from the goods, and an agent that deletes the ads leaves a business a third the size.
Friction and volume
The other reading starts with something companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash already track: every click removed from checkout raises transaction volume. An assistant with access to a calendar can remove the friction entirely. Picture one that knows where a person must be in 45 minutes, watches traffic, and keeps a car lined up so nobody has to open the app and check.
The food example
Food works the same way. An assistant that knows someone is landing late, in an Uber, can text and offer the meal they ordered yesterday, timed to arrive when they do. A quick reply places the order. On this reading, people deal with the business more often even though they spend less time inside its app.
Why do companies track every click removed?
Each extra step in a checkout gives a customer a chance to stop. The Baymard Institute, a research group that studies online shopping, puts the average cart abandonment rate at about 70 percent. Amazon recognized the value of cutting steps early and filed a patent for its 1-Click ordering in 1997. The patent was granted in 1999.
How do apps earn money from attention?
Apps that hold a user's attention can sell some of it to advertisers, which turns screen time into a second revenue stream next to the service itself. Amazon's advertising business reported about 47 billion dollars in revenue for 2023. Ride-hailing and delivery apps have also built advertising units that place restaurants and brands in front of users as they browse. Those units exist because the app is where the user's attention sits.
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