4 ms·

Neither Europe or Asia use iMessage, they use Whatsapp. Don't know which part of the world youve been to, but more than 70% of the possible iPhone population do

Neither Europe or Asia use iMessage, they use Whatsapp. Don't know which part of the world youve been to, but more than 70% of the possible iPhone population doesn't use iMessage. The rest of the world doesn't have the SMS problem that the US has.

stoppingby 4y ago
Not sure where you’re talking about in Asia. Vietnam uses Zalo, China has Wechat, Japan has Line, Korea has Kakaotalk, Thailand I think is Line as well. I think the average tech-aware person in at least East Asia doesn’t know what WhatsApp even is.
- ulfw 4y ago
  There is no 'Asia'. Every country is unique. Hong Kong mostly uses Whatsapp (though some Telegram and Wechat as well), Singapore uses Whatsapp a lot, Turkey uses Whatsapp, Indonesia too...
Nitrolo 4y ago
As a non American, what problem does the US have with SMS? I can confirm essentially no one in western Europe uses iMessage. I've seen people use FaceTime to call friends, but I've yet to even see someone open the iMessage app in person.
- mrtksn 4y ago
  Yep. Also the iMessage&SMS being in the same place makes the app very prone to spam. I have nothing more than 2FA codes and marketing spam in my iMessage app because the iMessage app is actually integrated with SMS and is called Messages. I use facetime quite a lot though, because it works better than everything else.
  - dividedbyzero 4y ago
    At least in Germany quite a few people still pay for each SMS, so having both in the same convo is actively undesired since at least with e.g. Whatsapp there will be no surprise costs.
- jonp888 4y ago
  I guess the "problem" is that American iPhone users will either exclude non-iPhone users altogether or default to SMS rather than switching to a cross-platform messaging app, despite the deficiencies of SMS in modern communication, e.g. poor support for group chats and sending images or videos.
- microtherion 4y ago
  If "essentially no one" uses it, why does the EU feel compelled to regulate it? https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220315IPR25504/deal-on-digital-markets-act-ensuring-fair-competition-and-more-choice-for-users https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220315IP...
  - LtWorf 4y ago
    The link you provided does not specifically talk about imessage
    - microtherion 4y ago
      "EU lawmakers agreed that the largest messaging services (such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage) will have to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms"
mrweasel 4y ago
> Neither Europe or Asia use iMessage, they use WhatsApp. That's really a simplistic way of thinking. It is marked specific sure, but China have WeChat as the dominate messaging app. Denmark has some level of WhatsApp penetration for sure, but it's lower than iMessage (23% vs 33%), in some circles it is really noticeable if you switch to Android. iMessages is also a bit weird, because a large number of people do not care that it's technically iMessage, it just the messaging app on the phone, meaning it's SMS (even if it's technically not). I believe Sweden is rather similar. You also have to consider how many have multiple messaging apps installed. My guess is that a large number of the WhatsApp users are still available on iMessage. I don't think it makes sense to entire continent or even countries as being WhatsApp or iMessage. We have to view it in much smaller circles. Like businesses, income classes or circles of friends and family.
nextlevelwizard 4y ago
Either you people don't know what iMessage is or you have strange way of defining usage. >more than 70% of the possible iPhone population doesn't use iMessage. Based on? Are they not receiving SMS messages at all? >The rest of the world doesn't have the SMS problem that the US has. So why are they using Whatsapp?

stoppingby 4y ago

Not sure where you’re talking about in Asia. Vietnam uses Zalo, China has Wechat, Japan has Line, Korea has Kakaotalk, Thailand I think is Line as well. I think the average tech-aware person in at least East Asia doesn’t know what WhatsApp even is.

ulfw 4y ago
There is no 'Asia'. Every country is unique. Hong Kong mostly uses Whatsapp (though some Telegram and Wechat as well), Singapore uses Whatsapp a lot, Turkey uses Whatsapp, Indonesia too...

Nitrolo 4y ago

As a non American, what problem does the US have with SMS? I can confirm essentially no one in western Europe uses iMessage. I've seen people use FaceTime to call friends, but I've yet to even see someone open the iMessage app in person.

mrtksn 4y ago
Yep. Also the iMessage&SMS being in the same place makes the app very prone to spam. I have nothing more than 2FA codes and marketing spam in my iMessage app because the iMessage app is actually integrated with SMS and is called Messages. I use facetime quite a lot though, because it works better than everything else.
- dividedbyzero 4y ago
  At least in Germany quite a few people still pay for each SMS, so having both in the same convo is actively undesired since at least with e.g. Whatsapp there will be no surprise costs.
jonp888 4y ago
I guess the "problem" is that American iPhone users will either exclude non-iPhone users altogether or default to SMS rather than switching to a cross-platform messaging app, despite the deficiencies of SMS in modern communication, e.g. poor support for group chats and sending images or videos.
microtherion 4y ago
If "essentially no one" uses it, why does the EU feel compelled to regulate it? https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220315IPR25504/deal-on-digital-markets-act-ensuring-fair-competition-and-more-choice-for-users https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220315IP...
- LtWorf 4y ago
  The link you provided does not specifically talk about imessage
  - microtherion 4y ago
    "EU lawmakers agreed that the largest messaging services (such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage) will have to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms"

mrweasel 4y ago

> Neither Europe or Asia use iMessage, they use WhatsApp. That's really a simplistic way of thinking. It is marked specific sure, but China have WeChat as the dominate messaging app. Denmark has some level of WhatsApp penetration for sure, but it's lower than iMessage (23% vs 33%), in some circles it is really noticeable if you switch to Android. iMessages is also a bit weird, because a large number of people do not care that it's technically iMessage, it just the messaging app on the phone, meaning it's SMS (even if it's technically not). I believe Sweden is rather similar. You also have to consider how many have multiple messaging apps installed. My guess is that a large number of the WhatsApp users are still available on iMessage. I don't think it makes sense to entire continent or even countries as being WhatsApp or iMessage. We have to view it in much smaller circles. Like businesses, income classes or circles of friends and family.

nextlevelwizard 4y ago

Either you people don't know what iMessage is or you have strange way of defining usage. >more than 70% of the possible iPhone population doesn't use iMessage. Based on? Are they not receiving SMS messages at all? >The rest of the world doesn't have the SMS problem that the US has. So why are they using Whatsapp?