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Apple Invites

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581–590 of 956 posts

Re: Apple Invites

#581
post #552
post #437

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But isn’t that the same when people and schools create effing Facebook groups and events or whatever they are called and find it hard to believe that people don’t use that crap. Or create WhatsApp groups and communities and so on and on.

Facebook you can access through any browser, on any hardware, and without having to pay for it. Not remotely comparable to Apple-only stuff. $1000 or whatever an iPhone costs these days is a lot of money for some people.

> $1000 or whatever an iPhone costs these days

Why do people always make up iPhone prices when the truth is readily available? You can buy a brand-new, unsubsidised iPhone for less than half that, and that’s not counting second-hand devices or phones on a contract, which are both incredibly common ways of getting a phone.

Re: Apple Invites

#582
This is just a fancy UI on top of CalDAV.

You have probably seen CalDAV in action at work with Microsoft’s god awful version of it (via Exchange Server or MS365 or w/e they call it); or Google Workspace or Google Calendar invites.

Across domains, it tends to be a hit or miss (due to proprietary EEE bs) but within the same organizations/domain it works decently enough. Even works well beyond the 100 person limit in “Apple Invites”

Sigh, why do we keep re-creating the wheel.

Re: Apple Invites

#583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a tip but sometimes it’s good to read the article before commenting. The app allows iPhone users to create an event. Anybody on any device or browser can RSVP. The event can be shared as a link. Making an event invite app that only works for users on one platform would be pointless. Also - non-Apple users have been able to join FaceTime calls via. A link for several years.

Yes, but. Most of the invited folks might have an AppleID associated with their email, that they have not used for years. And invite will ask to enter the password if you have an AppleID associated.

Yes, but. I was hoping to express my displeasure with Apple.

Re: Apple Invites

#584

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It still requires people to read a text message. It may as well be delivered via carrier pigeon outside the US.

Genuine question, is SMS text delivery unreliable where in certain countries?

SMS text delivery has always been sporadically unreliable for me. The cases where the messages are delayed by several minutes or hours are almost as problematic as the cases where they never arrive at all.

It doesn't seem to be specific to any country, though some are worse than others. Definitely seems to be a "best effort" service everywhere.

Re: Apple Invites

#585

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Just creating them. You have to have an iCloud+ subscription to be able to create them. Anyone can RSVP. When I think of people I know who have iCloud+ subscriptions, it's mostly people who thought they needed them because of the scary notifications their phones sent them about running out of their initial 5GB of storage (which of course is not enough for any modern phone). These are not people who are going to downl…

So your complaint is, "how dare they charge for a service they're offering"? If you don't want to use it to create invitations, don't. There's zero requirement for you to have an account if others invite you to something, and it sounds kind of preposterous to complain about other people choosing to pay for a service that you can then participate with for free.

Where in my post did I say anything like "how dare they"? I just pointed out that the people I know who have iCloud+ are not likely to download this new app and use it.

And it's obviously not likely to get anyone over the pay wall to buy iCloud+. This invitation feature has many free competitors. I don't begrudge Apple for creating this, but I won't be surprised if I keep getting evites and paperless post invites, and never an Apple Invite or whatever it's called.

Re: Apple Invites

#586

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From the article… Guests can view and respond to an invitation using the new iPhone app or on the web without needing an iCloud+ subscription or an Apple Account Sounds like there’s no Apple walled garden lock-in for recipients of the Invites? Only for creating/managing them?

I was actually pretty excited about this until so read it was iCloud+ only. I think it is maybe a long-term strategic mistake to lock this behind iCloud+ and also a bad omen for the direction Apple is going in. In the past this would have been a free app. If Apple did not lock this behind iCloud+ I think it would have quickly become a standard for a lot of users and been another feather in Apple’s cap of why a user m…

Before I saw it was iCloud+ only, I thought it was a sort-of clever way to get people even more locked into the ecosystem. I assumed that the shared photos would add to people's reliance on iCloud, and get some to upgrade to higher tiers to fit all their photos.

I was quite surprised to learn it wasn't free. I had heard about this "sherlocking" on Twitter but hadn't read the details. I can't think of a time when Apple Sherlocked something but didn't make it free. In fact, making it free is kind of part in parcel of Sherlocking, since that's what really kills the other business. Here, plenty of people will keep using the existing competitors because they don't want to have to pay for iCloud+.

Re: Apple Invites

#587

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Blame the telcos for the relative poor quality of text message multimedia (via MMS). The telcos specify the size limits of MMS messages. iMessage has much higher limits in most cases, so iPhone has to use reduce the quality of the pics/videos to reach the lower size limits for sending to non-iMessage recipients. For the telcos, why would they upgrade their size limits for MMS - it's just a cost centre for them. They…

iMessage and FaceTime are great. RCS is a 1990s telco non-solution, and Google's adverts negging Apple about it are weird. The less I am aware of the telephone company in my life, the better. This Invites thing is a separate app requiring a subscription service, and not just a + extension within iMessage or Calendar integration or something, so I doubt that I will be using it.

I guess this is the 'power' of regulatory capture equal to banks? Are telcos invulnerable to innovation?

Re: Apple Invites

#588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortunately you don't need everyone to be on iOS to reply. So you can send your Android using friends invited and they'll just get a weblink.

Unfortunately you need an iPhone to create the invite, or contribute anything else than a reply. They have to know their uncoolness is tolerated but not welcomed in the walled garden.

You can create an invite online. No Apple hardware needed.

Re: Apple Invites

#589

I really hope this fails. Apple will use it's dominant position to create lock in like how they did with iMessage instead of cooperating with other platforms on a common standard. Oder friends and family are surprised when they want to video call over Facetime and find it hard to believe other people's phones don't have Apple apps.

Just a tip but sometimes it’s good to read the article before commenting. The app allows iPhone users to create an event. Anybody on any device or browser can RSVP. The event can be shared as a link. Making an event invite app that only works for users on one platform would be pointless. Also - non-Apple users have been able to join FaceTime calls via. A link for several years.

> Also - non-Apple users have been able to join FaceTime calls via. A link for several years.

Is the quality the same or even close? Is it easy and obvious how to share such links?

Re: Apple Invites

#590

Brilliant move. The transition of the major social networks over the last 10-15 years -- from being a space for friends to interact to being a space to consume content produced by "unconnected" entities like influencers -- has created a huge opening for someone to claim the friends and family network. There is no one better positioned (at least in the U.S. where iPhones are the majority handset) than Apple.

Brilliant? Launching an app for creating events that requires you to 1) own an iDevice and 2) pay into, just to create events? I'll send an email for free, thankyouverymuch.

Likely doesn't need to be said, but if you are organizing parties with emails, you're probably not the target user base of this feature.

For the younger folks who organize their parties by texting (iMessages, Whatsapp, Telefram, etc), this can be enticing.

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