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You are correct, this is exactly the reason. Other countries charged per SMS so everyone had good reason to use an app instead. The US didn't charge, so why w

• ethbr1 2y ago
  The US did have SMS caps/charges, but pre-2008-iPhone+AppStore. (from memory) Consequently, I don't remember much of a timespan when US customers had both (a) SMS caps/charges and (b) smartphones with open-enough app stores to distribute something like WhatsApp. For much of the rest of the world, including international communication, that was a more extended period.
• oefrha 2y ago
  > The US didn't charge More like charged so exorbitantly up front so there’s no reason to additionally charge per use. My AT&T phone bill in the early 2010s was ~$80 as a single line or ~$50 per line as part of a family, which was several times over what I paid elsewhere with per-minute/text pricing. I later switched to a cheap MVNO (PureTalk) which did charge per text.