3 ms·

iMessage didn't break the SMS monopoly alone; I'd argue that WhatsApp played a more important role. WhatsApp launched in Jan 2009, almost 2 years before iMessa

iMessage didn't break the SMS monopoly alone; I'd argue that WhatsApp played a more important role. WhatsApp launched in Jan 2009, almost 2 years before iMessage launched in Oct 2011. Instead of being locked to one smartphone ecosystem, WhatsApp supported all platforms, including Android and feature phones (and the iPhone). This facilitated its worldwide adoption, in countries where feature phones were more common at the time (or still are). From some rough research/estimates, WhatsApp's adoption is probably roughly 2-3x that of iMessage on a monthly-active-user basis. (This is based on an estimate that roughly 1 billion people have iPhones; and that most but probably not all of them use iMessage.) In March of 2020, WhatsApp had over 2 billion MAU. iMessage may have broken the monopoly in the USA (where WhatsApp usage is less popular), but WhatsApp arguably played the more important role in most other countries. I won't dispute that the iPhone may have broken the "telcos install crapware" standard though. (Even today, from what I understand, telcos can install and update software on the phone, or some part of its hardware, but I believe it's limited to the telecommunication software/hardware, not apps on the phone OS.)

lotsofpulp 5y ago
> Instead of being locked to one smartphone ecosystem, WhatsApp supported all platforms, including Android and feature phones (and the iPhone). This facilitated its worldwide adoption, in countries where feature phones were more common at the time (or still are). I recall there being other cross platform apps out there, like Skype, Viber, Tango, and others. But what blew me away, and what I assume blew others away about WhatsApp, is that it simply used your phone number and SMS 1 factor authentication as your verification/login. This solved the problem of spammers, plus no login name/password combo made it dead simple for non tech literate people. My grandparents in a developing country figured it out without even knowing English. And the app itself was just extremely polished. I remember being so frustrated at sharing contacts, and then WhatsApp came out, and sharing contacts became extremely easy.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

> Instead of being locked to one smartphone ecosystem, WhatsApp supported all platforms, including Android and feature phones (and the iPhone). This facilitated its worldwide adoption, in countries where feature phones were more common at the time (or still are). I recall there being other cross platform apps out there, like Skype, Viber, Tango, and others. But what blew me away, and what I assume blew others away about WhatsApp, is that it simply used your phone number and SMS 1 factor authentication as your verification/login. This solved the problem of spammers, plus no login name/password combo made it dead simple for non tech literate people. My grandparents in a developing country figured it out without even knowing English. And the app itself was just extremely polished. I remember being so frustrated at sharing contacts, and then WhatsApp came out, and sharing contacts became extremely easy.