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Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

arstechnica.com

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Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#171

Post by ck425 »

asfasfo wrote: post #164
ck425 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. In UK it was common (and still has I think?) for contracts/deals to include lots of free SMS texts but even then most people have readily moved to WhatsApp, Messenger etc. In my mind texts quickly became like voicemails, something older people would use cause that's what they know but not something I'd want to use regularly if given the option.

The UK rolled probably rolled out free SMS texts later than the US; the US was one of the first markets that rolled it out. I don't know when whatsapp rolled out there but I'm guessing it pre dates unlimited SMS being ubiquitious. iMessage has pretty much the same feature set as Whatsapp so US users don't really have a reason to migrate at this point.

We had free texts before iPhones nevermind WhatsApp. Not unlimited but hundreds of SMSs a month was common. That said another thread here implied that carriers included MMS messages in free texts, not just SMS? If so that might explain as MMS aren't free in my experience.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#172

Post by aalimov_ »

albert180 wrote: post #160
aalimov_ wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just want to point out that you can get a brand new iPhone (in the US) for $429 (+ tax), and often times you can get it even cheaper if you trade in or accept carrier deals. I dont think that iMessage is the only sticky property of the iPhone. Things like long term support via updates is another big one. The “ecosystem” of devices and services. Comparable devices cost pretty much the same whether iPhone or Android. W…

You can get a brand new Android for 80-100$. What's the point?

My intention was to point out that the price gap wasn’t as great as it was made out to be. What part of my response can I clarify?

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#173

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

ck425 wrote: post #116
asfasfo wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SMS is very popular in the US for historical reasons. Many users in other countries (like India) moved to products like Whatsapp because their cell phone plans charged per message but US phone plans have had free SMS pricing for years so we've never had a push here. iPhone is market leader in the US so iMessageis also heavily used since its default for SMS between iOS users.

Interesting. In UK it was common (and still has I think?) for contracts/deals to include lots of free SMS texts but even then most people have readily moved to WhatsApp, Messenger etc. In my mind texts quickly became like voicemails, something older people would use cause that's what they know but not something I'd want to use regularly if given the option.

Part of the reason UK switched over quickly is because of much higher international texting needs which these apps also neatly solve. Your average American just straight up does not need international messaging capability

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#174

Post by tedunangst »

josephcsible wrote: post #145
stouset wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ma Bell had a monopoly. This is one messaging app on one brand of phone. Nothing stops you from using another phone, or multiple or other messaging apps. And messaging apps aren’t restricted by a “default” in quite the same way a web browser is. I have friends on WhatsApp and Signal and Instagram and I message them all without any appreciable difference in effort.

As long as iMessage doesn't support federation, Apple has a monopoly on it too. If not, then Ma Bell wouldn't have had a monopoly either, since you could say mailing letters was a competitor to telephones.

And here you are, posting on a site with a monopoly on HN comments.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#175

Post by madeofpalk »

thot_experiment wrote: post #30
that_guy_iain wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You‘ve just given multiple different text messengers that you use to text message when asking if people still text. Yes, people do. Non technically minded are very big users for the default text messaging apps.

text message means SMS in my dialect, sorry

iMessage is not SMS.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#176

Post by xyst »

rrreese wrote: post #117
cdme wrote: post #42

I miss the days when chat wasn't fragmented across apps and platforms or could at least be unified in apps like Adium. Having to have a different app installed for myriad different contacts is, at best, irritating.

I’m baffled as to when this time was? Back in the day there was ICQ, Yahoo Chat, MSN Messenger (and no doubt a dozen I forget). Before the there there the proprietary networks (Aol, CompuServe and others) along with BBS, IRC, Newsgroups, etc. I literally don’t remember a time in my life where messaging hasn’t been fragmented.

Probably when e-mail was the primary form of digital communication.

Or maybe referring to RL. You know, actually talking to someone on phone or in-person. Although then you have to deal with different accents, dialects, languages, and even regions specific lexicon.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#177

Post by vikramkr »

cdme wrote: post #42

I miss the days when chat wasn't fragmented across apps and platforms or could at least be unified in apps like Adium. Having to have a different app installed for myriad different contacts is, at best, irritating.

It's interesting to simultaneously see takes complaining about fragmentation and apple having monopoly power in this thread. In sympathetic to the fragmentation take honestly, apple doesn't stop you from installing Whatsapp, but it's an interesting situation where it's folks who opted into a closed system that are complaining about the system being closed

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#178

Post by ck425 »

infotainment wrote: post #156
ck425 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. How does that work with multimedia? Do US carriers not differentiate between SMS and MMS?

They don’t, it “just works” (to the degree MMS can work at all) — which means iMessage is perfectly positioned.

Ah so do "free texts" in the USA include MMS? That might explain the continued usage. In the UK MMS often aren't included, if anything they're charged stupidly high, so you'd never send a pic via text message.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#179

Post by jacobgkau »

ck425 wrote: post #127
infotainment wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USA specific — Americans pretty much universally use SMS messages, which ends up being iMessage for Apple devices.

Huh. How does that work with multimedia? Do US carriers not differentiate between SMS and MMS?

Carriers typically charge the actual media portion of MMS (e.g. the photo or video) as data.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#180

Post by recursive »

popularonion wrote: post #78
quartesixte wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s also entirely USA centric and a byproduct of everyone sticking to SMS-phone number systems to chat. It drives me nuts. WhatsApp. WeChat. Line. Kakao. Facebook Messenger. Most of the world has switched to these dedicated apps. Only glimmer of hope is that gen-z/gen-alpha is really into Discord (at least all the ones I know). Might finally bring down the iMessage group chats.

This whole “controversy” is because of Americans collectively stamping their feet and throwing a tantrum refusing to install WhatsApp or Signal. It’s really quite incredible. But I share your view about Discord, I think it’s one app positioned to be the “American WeChat” in a few years if they don’t screw it up.

No one has even asked me to install WhatsApp or Signal or anything. I'm not sure where the tantrum is happening. I mean, if someone wanted to send me a message, I'd ask them to do it with SMS first, since I already use that. But I've never seen any evidence of any tantrums.
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