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“WhatsApp’s existing users were held captive by the fact that leaving WhatsApp meant losing the ability to communicate with WhatsApp users.” I'm confused. I th
by Cynddl 6y ago
“WhatsApp’s existing users were held captive by the fact that leaving WhatsApp meant losing the ability to communicate with WhatsApp users.”
I'm confused. I thought everyone was identified by their phone number, which can be used to receive texts from anyone.
- laurent92 6y agoHad SMS supported group text, Whatsapp would have never existed in the 1st world (and had SMS been free in Asia, Whatsapp would have never existed at all).
- throwaway2245 6y agoWhen WhatsApp first came out, lots of people (in the West) paid punishingly high costs for sending an SMS at all. Being able to communicate via [free wifi/a much smaller data cost] was a big selling point.
- rodgerd 6y agoYes, I suspect it's a function of average-age-on-HN, but certainly remember when teens would have a phone plan based on how many "free" texts were included.
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoPeople in some countries have become quite unaccustomed to sending SMS, a legacy of expensive per-message costs (which is why WhatsApp originally took off). So, you can text them, but they might not answer you back unless they can do it through Whatsapp.
- approxim8ion 6y agoSMS is a poor replacement tbh. It still costs money in some places, doesn't support rich text/emoji, multimedia support is extremely dodgy, and it is completely without security or privacy.