US Gen Z and the iMessage Lock-In

Post by Mirioron » Sat, Aug 17, 2019, 1:08 AM UTC

asclepi wrote: post #108

grawprog wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Not because they had to switch to another app to reach him, but "because he was on Android and turned the thread green" (sic). That's a sneaky odd bit of social engineering. Wonder how many iphone sales they've actually gotten because of this.

83% of US teens have an iPhone according to Piper Jaffray in April 2019 [1]. That number is biased, however, as 1) it's solely based on a survey done in high schools, and not every teen will feel comfortable admitting they have something else than an iPhone 2) the surveys are performed by DECA Inc. which is more affiliated with private schools and public high schools in affluent neighborhoods. Still, I estimate that…

Post by allana » Sat, Aug 17, 2019, 1:24 AM UTC

rconti wrote: post #89

Kadin wrote: post #64

I switched to iOS (via a used iPhone on a BYOD plan) primarily for iMessage. I was tired of being the odd man out, missing out on things that were being planned via group messages, etc. Nobody was going to switch to an entirely different mode of communication just for my sake, so the existence of theoretical alternatives doesn't really matter. (And I do try to use Facebook Messenger for group chats, so as not to lock…

Thanks for bringing up how this is Google's fault -- or, at least, the failure of Google and everyone else who isn't Apple. iMessage has lots of problems. I've screwed it up a lot of times switching SIM cards, I can never understand why it needs to know if I want to contact my iMessage contact by email or by phone number, or why the messages thread differently depending on what I use. But it GENERALLY works okay. Mea…

Post by viraptor » Sat, Aug 17, 2019, 1:32 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #164

asclepi wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

83% of US teens have an iPhone according to Piper Jaffray in April 2019 [1]. That number is biased, however, as 1) it's solely based on a survey done in high schools, and not every teen will feel comfortable admitting they have something else than an iPhone 2) the surveys are performed by DECA Inc. which is more affiliated with private schools and public high schools in affluent neighborhoods. Still, I estimate that…

I can't speak for anyone else, but my kids are likely to end up with iPhones at some point (the oldest is 9, so not anytime soon) because Apple's child/family controls for iOS, while far from perfect, are miles ahead of anything I can find on any Android devices. So now they have iPads, and the ecosystem just works for us so it will be natural for them to stay within it when they graduate to phones.

Post by istjohn » Sat, Aug 17, 2019, 1:43 AM UTC

mbowcutt wrote: post #129

Kadin wrote: post #64

I switched to iOS (via a used iPhone on a BYOD plan) primarily for iMessage. I was tired of being the odd man out, missing out on things that were being planned via group messages, etc. Nobody was going to switch to an entirely different mode of communication just for my sake, so the existence of theoretical alternatives doesn't really matter. (And I do try to use Facebook Messenger for group chats, so as not to lock…

> But really this is Google's problem, not Apple's. I'm not sure we agree on what the problem is? If Google monopolized years ago, the story would play the same - only now it's the kid without Hangouts/Gmail. Sure, you're not locked into a physical device, but you're still locked into a service, and that's not guaranteed to hold true forever. IMO we need a modern messaging standard that's vendor agnostic. SMS/MMS wer…

Post by viraptor » Sat, Aug 17, 2019, 1:49 AM UTC

693471 wrote: post #156

iMessage is far more reliable, has richer features, never needs app updates (bc they come with the OS), E2E by default, and media attachments send faster and more reliably than SMS. I don't blame them. SMS is terrible. And most of the other apps suck or are from untrustworthy companies. Apple's being rewarded for good behavior.