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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

#171

Post by ikr678 »

throw310822 wrote: post #106
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…

> because Apple/iOS devices are very popular in the country Apple is popular also in Europe, and Android has a 43% market share in the US. But in Europe nobody would use a messaging system that is broken for 40% of their contacts. So either in the US there is no intersection between the social circles of people that use Android vs Apple (highly improbable) or something in the US culture makes people willing to crippl…

The 'something in US culture' is conspicuous consumption and a perception that apple are superior and you shouldnt have to go out of your way to interact with poor android users.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#172

Post by throw310822 »

ikr678 wrote: post #171
throw310822 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because Apple/iOS devices are very popular in the country Apple is popular also in Europe, and Android has a 43% market share in the US. But in Europe nobody would use a messaging system that is broken for 40% of their contacts. So either in the US there is no intersection between the social circles of people that use Android vs Apple (highly improbable) or something in the US culture makes people willing to crippl…

The 'something in US culture' is conspicuous consumption and a perception that apple are superior and you shouldnt have to go out of your way to interact with poor android users.

I wonder if this is somehow related with the healthcare policies: a country where everyone is willing to pay extortionate prices for medical care, sometimes to the point of financial ruin, so that those who are "undeserving" don't get it for free.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#173

Post by humptybumpty »

I’ve used Whatsapp since 2012.

Driving force with 20-30 somethings in early Whatsapp days in Europe was simply the first viable group messaging and sharing photos.

And the simplicity of onboarding! It immediately checked all your contacts to see who uses whatsapp. All other apps used usernames and invites. This worked immediately.

It worked on both phones, so everyone could join the group.

Free SMS was ok, but operators offered typical packages 500,1000 or 3000 free /month so it wasn’t an issue for anyone with a job. But for some it was great.

Combine these three factors and it spread like wildfire in few years.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#174

Post by inemesitaffia »

viraptor wrote: post #95
NoLinkToMe wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the first time I hear that Whatsapp is already an everything app. Ive used Whatsapp for about 14 years or so on a daily basis as my main app. But it’s just chat for me, and about 30% of my non-professional calls. And I use the share location feature a lot when meeting friends. But that’s about it. But banking, social media, ID/login, maps, albums, browsing etc I all do outside of whatsapp.

Yup, that claim went a bit far. I mean, the company account API exists and you can do buttons and automation and lots of companies do support this way. (All my contact with Dell support was over WhatsApp) So the tech is there, but the actual deployment of it isn't that big.

Depends on your country.

A particular banking service option I use is only available on WhatsApp

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#175

Post by bloody-crow »

happymellon wrote: post #170
shafyy wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Japan does have a very high iOS market share however because they appreciate craftsmanship Citation needed

Which part of that claim; that Japanese appreciate craftsmanship, or that iOS is crafted?

I suspect they're asking for a citation establishing a correlation between high iOS market share and craftsmanship appreciation.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#176

Post by shafyy »

bloody-crow wrote: post #175
happymellon wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part of that claim; that Japanese appreciate craftsmanship, or that iOS is crafted?

I suspect they're asking for a citation establishing a correlation between high iOS market share and craftsmanship appreciation.

Yes, that's what I meant.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#177

Post by lxgr »

Zak wrote: post #35
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.

It’s that, and the fact that MMS is still not free on most plans (if it even is still available; I know operators that just don’t support it, because nobody uses it).

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#178

Post by lxgr »

josu wrote: post #50
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…

The US was one of the few countries in the world where there were unlimited SMS plans. So by the time Whatsapp came around instant free messaging was already ubiquitous. This wasn't the case for most other regions, where Whatsapp actually brought free unlimited mobile messaging.

Importantly these also usually included unlimited media messages (MMS) early on.

Flat rate plans in Europe started appearing a bit later and usually never included MMS, so it was calls and texts only, but no photos. WhatsApp changed that.

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#179

Post by lxgr »

comprev wrote: post #75
josu wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US was one of the few countries in the world where there were unlimited SMS plans. So by the time Whatsapp came around instant free messaging was already ubiquitous. This wasn't the case for most other regions, where Whatsapp actually brought free unlimited mobile messaging.

WhatsApp was a paid product to start with.

I've used it at that time, and somehow they never managed to actually charge me (and I didn't go out of my way to avoid paying).

Re: How WhatsApp became an unstoppable global cultural force

#180

Post by lxgr »

throw310822 wrote: post #106
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…

> because Apple/iOS devices are very popular in the country Apple is popular also in Europe, and Android has a 43% market share in the US. But in Europe nobody would use a messaging system that is broken for 40% of their contacts. So either in the US there is no intersection between the social circles of people that use Android vs Apple (highly improbable) or something in the US culture makes people willing to crippl…

SMS/MMS is free in almost all phone plans in the US, and I have absolutely no trouble believing that people would subject themselves to a very bad messaging experience if that's the default that comes with their phone, as long as it's free.

If I were to come up with a social/economic theory to further back that, my guess would probably be that phone users in the US have a "full service mentality" much more than in the rest of the world:

Buying a phone on a (very expensive) monthly plan that subsidizes the device is much more common than elsewhere, and historically, SIM cards weren't even a thing, so devices were tied to a given network and (to some extent) even a subscriber much more than in the rest of the world.

That would logically extend to people not expecting to have to install a third-party app for what they consider to be "basic phone functionality".

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