5 ms·
"The users can just switch" doesn't actually work when the switching costs are high, and the switching costs for a social network are a lot higher than you are
by freehunter 7y ago
"The users can just switch" doesn't actually work when the switching costs are high, and the switching costs for a social network are a lot higher than you are making it seem.
If all of my friends are using WhatsApp, either I have to use it too or I have to convince everyone to switch to my preferred app just for my sake. And in the case of iMessage, I have to ask them to switch their phone too.
If these systems could interoperate with each other it'd be different, but as-is, the switching costs are astronomical.
- kimsant 7y agoif all my friends are using Whatsapp... if all the phones come with google apps that track me Do you see the difference? The cost of changing can be "social gravity" (Whatsapp, WeChat, Telegram... depends of country and environment) a cost of learning something new (from Windows to Mac or any Linux distribution)... but it shouldn't be structural enforcement via no alternative given at a reasonable price. That is called Android and Google but wait, the trend is Facebook now so lets just focus on if Instagram and Whatsapp merge a little more or less... Dump dump dump dump dump!!!
- scarface74 7y agoSo what should the government do? Tell all your friends not to use WhatsApp? How do you propose that you get interoperability and security? iMessage already interoperates with the standard phone messaging protocol - sms.
- giancarlostoro 7y agoThe benefit of iMessage is the encryption. Which SMS doesnt compare to that level of encryption used by Apple. Would rather iMessage be a paid for Android app. I woulda bought it but I might just switch phones altogether. Sick of Googles spying and political regime insanity (see Project Veritas).