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Apple messaging lockin is having the desired impact. Combine that with Google's mess of a strategy and it is easy to see why this is happening. It is why it is

by _ea1k 3y ago

Apple messaging lockin is having the desired impact. Combine that with Google's mess of a strategy and it is easy to see why this is happening. It is why it is so critical to hire the right people in leadership to avoid squandering key, already successful, strategic positions.

AlexandrB 3y ago
90% of people I message with use WhatsApp or Signal (and most of them use iPhones). I keep hearing about iOS messaging lock in, but I've never experienced it.
- MBCook 3y ago
  Are you in the US? Every time that comes up that tends to be a huge divide. US uses iMessage, other countries don’t.
- throw9away6 3y ago
  Where do to live? Zero people in the USA i know use them that dont talk to out of country family
- dimmke 3y ago
  It’s a US only thing. And only for people in the US who don’t regularly communicate with people outside the US. I moved out of the US and most of my US friends I still have to use iMessage to talk to. Only a few are active on WhatsApp.
- _ea1k 3y ago
  This article was about US market share.
tomjen3 3y ago
Its annoying as hell, because iMessage isn't really useful when most of the people I write to don't have an iPhone. 100% I blame Google though, they need to get their ass together and make their own. It needs to work with everbody who already have a google account and they need to commit to it for 10 year minimum. Then it is reasonable for Apple to create a system so they can talk together.
- khazhoux 3y ago
  I don't understand -- are Android users not able to receive your iPhone text messages? I've never had that problem.
  - alistairSH 3y ago
    SMS vs data. iPhone to iPhone uses a data connection with richer media sharing features. Plus SMS is in a different color, so you can easily/remotely judge your peer for using Android.
    - bornfreddy 3y ago
      > ... judge your peer for not using iPhone. Ftfy. It's not just iOS and Android out there.
      - howinteresting 3y ago
        Also, even on an iphone you can turn off iMessage and always use SMS. I'd recommend that as a way to avoid lock-in.
  - tomjen3 3y ago
    Sure, but I would also like to send them pictures and I would like some security about it too.
- wcoenen 3y ago
  > It needs to work with everbody who already have a google account and they need to commit to it for 10 year minimum This already exists. 10 years ago, Google Hangouts was separated from Google+. It is currently accessible through the Gmail web interface, Gmail app, and "Chat" app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.dynamite https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
  - runako 3y ago
khazhoux 3y ago
What is the messaging lock-in? I have lots of text threads with mixed Android+iPhone users, and never have any problem.
- notyourwork 3y ago
  A simple example is the media sharing quality is horrendous when you transcend the iPhone/Android boundary. Can you communicate, yes. Is it as good as an all iMessage interaction, no.
  - oh_sigh 3y ago
    Yup...my parents share videos from their iphone to my android and it is of a quality where you can literally count the pixels. Maybe there is a way to share higher quality, but they're not tech savvy and just do what is the default.
    - pmontra 3y ago
      Maybe you could use any app asking WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, Signal or even Messenger (is it still a thing?) They work well with video. WhatsApp wouldn't be running Europe if its videos were bad.
      - sofixa 3y ago
        Telegram is by far the best one for video/photo quality because it doesn't do any (visible) compression, meanwhile WhatsApp and Messenger (yep, still exists) noticeably degrades the quality.
        lambdaba 3y ago
        It's basically impossible to share e.g a long screenshot of text because WhatsApp compresses so aggressively, it's a joke.
        dawidpotocki 3y ago
kaba0 3y ago
That’s just such a US. American problem that it is honestly, kind of funny in a dumb way from any other part of the world. Like SMS itself is a legacy, insecure tech, it really should not be used at all anymore, unless you really only know their phone number. Knowing that you are not sending SMS when you see a blue bubble, but apple just conveniently put their internet-based message system into the same app is not a hard concept. Similarly, you can install Telegram, Whatsapp, Messenger, Signal, Element X (which I all have installed besides Whatsapp) and communicate with people available through those application at the utterly tiny inconvenience of having to open that app first. You can’t send images/videos through a Short Messaging Service, period. That’s not apple being anticompetitive, this is literally the technology’s limitation. It is also terrible from an encoding point of view, and probably why the rest of the world had no problem ditching it for most things, as sending an Unicode message takes up plenty characters, making you have to send 2 messages even with moderately long text. (I remember removing ‘ö’s and spaces when I was a child and had stricter limits on the number of SMSs in my plan.
- ggregoire 3y ago
  Indeed. WhatsApp has like 99.9% of market share in central/south America? Nobody use SMS or iMessage over there.
  - desi_ninja 3y ago
    Asia too.
- martin8412 3y ago
  People are just eating what Google says raw. Apple will just need to implement RCS and everything will be better. Don't worry that the only universally available RCS relay is operated by Google and encryption is a part of a non-standard Google extension. So Google wants Apple to hand all messages over to Google. For fun, Apple should propose to implement RCS but only if Google agrees to use the Apple relay. No chance it would ever be accepted.
  - dalyons 3y ago

by _ea1k 3y ago

AlexandrB 3y ago

90% of people I message with use WhatsApp or Signal (and most of them use iPhones). I keep hearing about iOS messaging lock in, but I've never experienced it.

MBCook 3y ago
Are you in the US? Every time that comes up that tends to be a huge divide. US uses iMessage, other countries don’t.
throw9away6 3y ago
Where do to live? Zero people in the USA i know use them that dont talk to out of country family
dimmke 3y ago
It’s a US only thing. And only for people in the US who don’t regularly communicate with people outside the US. I moved out of the US and most of my US friends I still have to use iMessage to talk to. Only a few are active on WhatsApp.
_ea1k 3y ago
This article was about US market share.

tomjen3 3y ago

Its annoying as hell, because iMessage isn't really useful when most of the people I write to don't have an iPhone. 100% I blame Google though, they need to get their ass together and make their own. It needs to work with everbody who already have a google account and they need to commit to it for 10 year minimum. Then it is reasonable for Apple to create a system so they can talk together.

khazhoux 3y ago
I don't understand -- are Android users not able to receive your iPhone text messages? I've never had that problem.
- alistairSH 3y ago
  SMS vs data. iPhone to iPhone uses a data connection with richer media sharing features. Plus SMS is in a different color, so you can easily/remotely judge your peer for using Android.
  - bornfreddy 3y ago
    > ... judge your peer for not using iPhone. Ftfy. It's not just iOS and Android out there.
    - howinteresting 3y ago
      Also, even on an iphone you can turn off iMessage and always use SMS. I'd recommend that as a way to avoid lock-in.
- tomjen3 3y ago
  Sure, but I would also like to send them pictures and I would like some security about it too.
wcoenen 3y ago
> It needs to work with everbody who already have a google account and they need to commit to it for 10 year minimum This already exists. 10 years ago, Google Hangouts was separated from Google+. It is currently accessible through the Gmail web interface, Gmail app, and "Chat" app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.dynamite https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...
- runako 3y ago

khazhoux 3y ago

What is the messaging lock-in? I have lots of text threads with mixed Android+iPhone users, and never have any problem.

notyourwork 3y ago
A simple example is the media sharing quality is horrendous when you transcend the iPhone/Android boundary. Can you communicate, yes. Is it as good as an all iMessage interaction, no.
- oh_sigh 3y ago
  Yup...my parents share videos from their iphone to my android and it is of a quality where you can literally count the pixels. Maybe there is a way to share higher quality, but they're not tech savvy and just do what is the default.
  - pmontra 3y ago
    Maybe you could use any app asking WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, Signal or even Messenger (is it still a thing?) They work well with video. WhatsApp wouldn't be running Europe if its videos were bad.
    - sofixa 3y ago
      Telegram is by far the best one for video/photo quality because it doesn't do any (visible) compression, meanwhile WhatsApp and Messenger (yep, still exists) noticeably degrades the quality.
      - lambdaba 3y ago
        It's basically impossible to share e.g a long screenshot of text because WhatsApp compresses so aggressively, it's a joke.
      - dawidpotocki 3y ago

kaba0 3y ago

That’s just such a US. American problem that it is honestly, kind of funny in a dumb way from any other part of the world. Like SMS itself is a legacy, insecure tech, it really should not be used at all anymore, unless you really only know their phone number. Knowing that you are not sending SMS when you see a blue bubble, but apple just conveniently put their internet-based message system into the same app is not a hard concept. Similarly, you can install Telegram, Whatsapp, Messenger, Signal, Element X (which I all have installed besides Whatsapp) and communicate with people available through those application at the utterly tiny inconvenience of having to open that app first. You can’t send images/videos through a Short Messaging Service, period. That’s not apple being anticompetitive, this is literally the technology’s limitation. It is also terrible from an encoding point of view, and probably why the rest of the world had no problem ditching it for most things, as sending an Unicode message takes up plenty characters, making you have to send 2 messages even with moderately long text. (I remember removing ‘ö’s and spaces when I was a child and had stricter limits on the number of SMSs in my plan.

ggregoire 3y ago
Indeed. WhatsApp has like 99.9% of market share in central/south America? Nobody use SMS or iMessage over there.
- desi_ninja 3y ago
  Asia too.
martin8412 3y ago
People are just eating what Google says raw. Apple will just need to implement RCS and everything will be better. Don't worry that the only universally available RCS relay is operated by Google and encryption is a part of a non-standard Google extension. So Google wants Apple to hand all messages over to Google. For fun, Apple should propose to implement RCS but only if Google agrees to use the Apple relay. No chance it would ever be accepted.
- dalyons 3y ago