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Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

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Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#151

Post by FirmwareBurner »

acdha wrote: post #148
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UI can't control the fact that the Samsung is so expensive in Portugal. It's 100 Euros cheaper where I live. >neither of these is in a price range where you’re moving into prestige territory. It's not about prestige territory, but a stricker price difference of 200 Euros can sway purchase decisions in Europe when a wage is ~2000 Euros.

€2000 is less than half of the average income for Albania and the poorest one in the EU is Bulgaria at 5 times that much.

Monthly...not yearly. I don't know how or where you got those numbers but at this point I'd rather end the conversation here.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#152

Post by FirmwareBurner »

acdha wrote: post #147
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>they care when apps stop allowing them to watch DRMed content or they can’t get the latest version anymore because it requires a newer API version. And what's the cutoff point for that on Android? I have an Android 9 phone I keep around for tinkering and every ap I need still works just fine. > to learn that the phone they “just” bought is no longer supported. In which universe your Android you just bough becomes ou…

> In which universe your Android you just bough becomes outdated? The real one? I know multiple people who paid decent money ($2-300) for phones they saw on sale while shopping, not realizing that they were close to the end of the manufacturer’s run and about to stop getting updates. I used to have a Lenovo tablet which never saw an update to the version of Android released a couple months before the hardware shipped…

>The real one? I know multiple people who paid decent money ($2-300) for phones they saw on sale while shopping, not realizing that they were close to the end of the manufacturer’s run and about to stop getting updates.

Please stop dramatizing things with poor examples that are at best anecdotal. But let's say anecdotally, you do buy an old Android phone today by accident, something that gets no updates, something on Android 11 that >3 years old that some shop still has in stock for some reason. All banking apps will still work on Android 11 today and most likely will well into the future. So will Netflix. You're probably thinking of the days of Android KitKat or Jelly bean. In no way buying an older Android today will mean your popular apps will immediately stop working due to APIs getting deprecated. Things don't get deprecated so quickly as you imagine anymore.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#153

Post by FirmwareBurner »

GeekyBear wrote: post #149
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Non techie folks care when their insecure phone allows something as important as their bank account to be hacked. How many times are we gonna play this boogieman card? As if everyone gets their bank account instantly emptied by hackers the moment their Android is a day out of it's support window. How many times has that actually happened to users of older un-updated Androids in the real world, documented? I know abo…

Did you seriously just pivot from "nobody cares about updates" to bragging that a company with Google's track record in regards to keeping it's promises has made another one?

I said most average users don't know or care about updates. Then I said that If you happend to be amongst those who does care bout updates, like you, then you need not worry cause the popular new Androids have started offering 7 years of updates. One statement does not contradict the other.

If text comprehension is challenging for you might I suggest using a LLM to summarize things and extract the bullet points.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#154

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

amatecha wrote: post #107
hwbehrens wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a historical artifact -- by the time that iMessage launched, the US was well into the phase of free, unlimited texting, so there was no barrier to "just texting". Since there was also no barrier (in terms of costs, subscriptions, or installation friction) to using iMessage, it was a drop-in upgrade of the user experience for SMS. In contrast, I still have to pay a fee to send SMS messages to my European…

Yeah, actually until I finally haggled for a better plan maybe ~5 years ago, it used to cost me $0.25 to send an SMS to anyone, even in my own country (Canada)...

Canada IMO does take the crown of having the absolute worst telecoms. It’s absolutely astounding to see some of the stuff they pull sometimes. I remember being younger and wanting to unlock a phone from Rogers. They wanted $125 for this act of changing a row in a database

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#155

Post by alberto180 »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #132
ghusto wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the U.S.A., people use iMessage by default, because they use text messaging. People don't use texts in Europe (we use WhatsApp and similar, but WhatsApp by a long margin). The reason people still use texts in the U.S.A. is up for debate, and it's something I've thought about for a long time.

What is the functional difference between imessage and whatsapp? I only see a different provider.

It's available on many platforms. Otherwise no one would use it, since iPhones are quite the minority in Europe

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#156

Post by alberto180 »

retskrad wrote: post #48

I believe the assertion suggesting that iMessage plays a pivotal role in the success of the iPhone and contributes significantly to Apple's business is inaccurate. The iMessage platform, in itself, does not possess an inherent quality that renders the iPhone more appealing to consumers. On the contrary, it is the iPhone's inherent appeal that enhances the attractiveness of iMessage. The prestige of the iPhone imparts…

It isn't a status symbol in western Europe. Really Every moron can get one with their 30-50€/Mo contracts, and you see many poor people running around with it

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#157

Post by alberto180 »

lxgr wrote: post #76
troupo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is why the the iPhone is still a status symbol among the middle class and richest people in the EU wat? iPhone costs as much as an equivalent Android (and has for some time), and since you can get it with your phone subscription for a rather low monthly payment, it hasn't been a status symbol for a decade or more.

> since you can get it with your phone subscription for a rather low monthly payment This is not (anymore) how people buy their phones in many countries. Even on relatively expensive post-paid plans in some European countries, you don't get a discounted phone anymore: All they offer is an interest-free installment plan. > iPhone costs as much as an equivalent Android What's an equivalent iPhone to e.g. a Galaxy A54 (…

That's bullshit. You still get the phone thrown after you with a Phone Contract, and often it's the same price as buying the phone in a store. Even with a 2 year contract

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#158

Post by nozzlegear »

nemomarx wrote: post #130
dopa42365 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much does the cheapest mobile plan that offers "free and unlimited" texting cost in the US? Quick look at t-mobile shows $15/month for unlimited texts. So much for "free" :)

I think they mean free at the point of text, ie not paying per message, not that the plan is free. Wouldn't 15 be pretty cheap for a phone plan anyway? That's less than Netflix costs now?

Exactly. When my wife and I were younger we would easily send over 3000 sms messages to each other per month; I remember the number because my family saw it on my phone bill and thought it was absurd. Jumping on an unlimited sms plan for an extra $10-15 per month was a no brainer versus paying $0.10 per sms.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#159

Post by alberto180 »

crazygringo wrote: post #64
pelorat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a lot of people here uses a Mac either. Why spend 1500 euros on a Mac when you can buy a windows laptop for 500-700 that does everything the Mac does.

Because it tends to last for 2-3 times as long and still holds resale value when you finally choose to upgrade. Because of this, entry-level Macs are often actually cheaper in the long run -- and with the M chips they're faster too. And of course generally provide a much higher-quality experience, like trackpad quality, screen quality, etc.

Yeah until they die because the not changeable SSDs has reached their cycles. I see many old ThinkPads still humming in the university library, but not many old macs.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#160

Post by amatecha »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #154
amatecha wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, actually until I finally haggled for a better plan maybe ~5 years ago, it used to cost me $0.25 to send an SMS to anyone, even in my own country (Canada)...

Canada IMO does take the crown of having the absolute worst telecoms. It’s absolutely astounding to see some of the stuff they pull sometimes. I remember being younger and wanting to unlock a phone from Rogers. They wanted $125 for this act of changing a row in a database

Yeah, this reminds me, mine and my wife's bills inexplicably went up by like $5 this month, so now I have to investigate as to why our plans that have been locked in at a certain rate for years on end are now suddenly costing us more, without any notification to us. Gotta love it.
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