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How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

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Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#31

Post by epx »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #16
itikasp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I am one of the editors of this story, and we have also thought about this. In my opinion, one of the reasons why WhatsApp hasn't become the "everything app" in the US is because Apple/iOS devices are very popular in the country, where as in much of the world, Android is popular thanks to the availability of cheaper devices. Apple offers a suit of apps and features, including Facetime, that's not available for An…

An interesting tidbit is that WhatsApp actually predates FaceTime and iMessage, and thus it was one of the earliest iPhone apps that allowed sending text messages over data as opposed to SMS. Interoperability with Android was a plus. I was tremendously pissed off when I moved from a BlackBerry (with blackberry messenger and “free over data” messaging) to an iPhone in 2008 and had to go back to paying per sms sent. Th…

At least here in Brazil, WhatsApp consolidated its position by working well in feature phones that ran J2ME and dominated the low-end market before Android. It took testing and adaptation to each and every available phone (as far as I can remember, J2ME was kind of a loose standard so developing a J2ME on one device did not guarantee it ran well, or at all, in any other). This, coupled with the possibility of eliding the outrageous SMS rates and the availability of EDGE data plans.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#32

Post by Barrin92 »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #8

What surprises me is that while WhatsApp has become an "everything" app in many parts of the world, much like WeChat in China, it has not done so in the US. In fact, I don't know anyone in the US who uses WhatsApp "internally" (the only times I use it is to communicate with people outside the US). The description of WhatsApp here is exactly what Elon wanted X to become (which clearly didn't and almost certainly now w…

>But I'm curious as to why such as "super-app" hasn't taken root in the US like it has elsewhere.

because there's a lot more traditional banking and business infrastructure in the US or Europe than there is in China or India, so the latter just leapfrogged over it and the experience of using Alipay or running your business of Whatsapp is just much better than any legacy institution in those countries. People in countries with more established ways of doing things are both too used to and don't have that much of an incentive to switch because most stuff works sort of okay.

Same reason why WhatsApp adoption itself is lower in the US and sms based messaging held out so long. The US had cheap sms plans earlier so people were less eager to switch while everyone else just jumped to internet based messaging.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#33

Post by akira2501 »

itikasp wrote: post #10
insane_dreamer wrote: post #8

What surprises me is that while WhatsApp has become an "everything" app in many parts of the world, much like WeChat in China, it has not done so in the US. In fact, I don't know anyone in the US who uses WhatsApp "internally" (the only times I use it is to communicate with people outside the US). The description of WhatsApp here is exactly what Elon wanted X to become (which clearly didn't and almost certainly now w…

Hi, I am one of the editors of this story, and we have also thought about this. In my opinion, one of the reasons why WhatsApp hasn't become the "everything app" in the US is because Apple/iOS devices are very popular in the country, where as in much of the world, Android is popular thanks to the availability of cheaper devices. Apple offers a suit of apps and features, including Facetime, that's not available for An…

Do you think it could be that general purpose computers tend to exist as household items here moreso than in other parts of the world? I see my phone as a small extension of a much larger and more capable computing base. Is that view even possible in other parts of the world?

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#34

Post by asplake »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #9
exabrial wrote: post #2

What worries me is FB is in charge. It’s allegedly secure, but closed source. What’s their profit model here anyway?

Drives users to FB, IG, and therefore ... ads.

Does it? I’m a regular WhatsApp user and haven’t touched any other Meta app in a long time. Easy to forget that they’re connected.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#35

Post by Zak »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #8

What surprises me is that while WhatsApp has become an "everything" app in many parts of the world, much like WeChat in China, it has not done so in the US. In fact, I don't know anyone in the US who uses WhatsApp "internally" (the only times I use it is to communicate with people outside the US). The description of WhatsApp here is exactly what Elon wanted X to become (which clearly didn't and almost certainly now w…

I'm reasonably confident WhatsApp never caught on in the USA because most American phone plans had unlimited SMS in the early 2010s when WhatsApp's popularity was growing elsewhere. International messaging was probably also a big driver in Europe, but less relevant in other markets.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#36

Post by Mond_ »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #8

What surprises me is that while WhatsApp has become an "everything" app in many parts of the world, much like WeChat in China, it has not done so in the US. In fact, I don't know anyone in the US who uses WhatsApp "internally" (the only times I use it is to communicate with people outside the US). The description of WhatsApp here is exactly what Elon wanted X to become (which clearly didn't and almost certainly now w…

This isn't really what an "everything app" is. WhatsApp is a chat app (+ some barebones community stuff, which Telegram and Discord also have).

To be an everything app, it needs to have, at the very least, a built-in payment system, fully featured social media content (ie. proper feeds and comments, at least on the level of Twitter), and non-trivial integration with other apps, businesses, and/or government entities. (This isn't even getting into eg. paying rent, ordering takeout, playing games, etc.)

Calling WhatsApp is just kind of missing the point of the definition.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#37

Post by RustySpottedCat »

crop_rotation wrote: post #29

Whatsapp is such a big cultural force that many of my non technical friends and family members refuse to use anything else. No mail for full res photos is one thing, but you can't make them use anything else. Everything lives in Whatsapp. Todos, notes, reminders, sharing stuff (airdrop is the only exception if everyone involved has iOS). It is less because of whatsapp features (Nobody uses any features like payments)…

Uuh, where do you live? I haven't met a single person (technical or non technical) with such an attachment to a single app in my life.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#39

Post by Kiro »

RustySpottedCat wrote: post #37
crop_rotation wrote: post #29

Whatsapp is such a big cultural force that many of my non technical friends and family members refuse to use anything else. No mail for full res photos is one thing, but you can't make them use anything else. Everything lives in Whatsapp. Todos, notes, reminders, sharing stuff (airdrop is the only exception if everyone involved has iOS). It is less because of whatsapp features (Nobody uses any features like payments)…

Uuh, where do you live? I haven't met a single person (technical or non technical) with such an attachment to a single app in my life.

The question is where you live where this is not the case. You're the outlier here.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#40

Post by Zak »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #16
itikasp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I am one of the editors of this story, and we have also thought about this. In my opinion, one of the reasons why WhatsApp hasn't become the "everything app" in the US is because Apple/iOS devices are very popular in the country, where as in much of the world, Android is popular thanks to the availability of cheaper devices. Apple offers a suit of apps and features, including Facetime, that's not available for An…

An interesting tidbit is that WhatsApp actually predates FaceTime and iMessage, and thus it was one of the earliest iPhone apps that allowed sending text messages over data as opposed to SMS. Interoperability with Android was a plus. I was tremendously pissed off when I moved from a BlackBerry (with blackberry messenger and “free over data” messaging) to an iPhone in 2008 and had to go back to paying per sms sent. Th…

I found it surprising at the time that instant messaging apps that originated on PCs (ICQ, AIM, Skype, etc...) did not get widely adopted for this role despite most of the well-known ones releasing iOS and Android versions at the time.
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