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Apple Invites

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Re: Apple Invites

#791

Post by basisword »

pkamb wrote: post #312
eknkc wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everytime iMessage is mentioned, I do a double take because it is almost non existent here in Turkey. And from what I hear, seems like most Europeans do not use it too. WhatsApp has like 99.9% market share here and I assume it is a lot bigger than anything else in the EU too. I wonder why is that though. Everyone around me has an iPhone basically and I haven’t received a blue bubble in years. The messages app is not…

As I understand it, many Americans (and all iPhones?) had unlimited-SMS phone plans circa 2009. So the pay-per-message economic conditions that caused many Europeans, etc., to switch to WhatsApp back in the day didn't do anything in the USA. Then when the same iPhone app seamlessly started sending iMessages (blue bubbles) to other iPhones rather than SMS (green bubbles), people just kept using that.

>> So the pay-per-message economic conditions that caused many Europeans, etc., to switch to WhatsApp back in the day didn't do anything in the USA.

I see this listed as the reason often but I had unlimited SMS then too. In fact I remember visiting the US in 2009 and I was charged to send AND receive an SMS which was a shock.

I think the actual reason is that communication across borders in Europe is very common and those SMS's were not included in the unlimited plans as they were messages abroad. So they were subject to fees (usually high ones). I think this is the reason it was common - especially given how common it is for students to study 'abroad' in other European countries. There were a few competing apps for this at the time (Vibr I think was another but was more call focussed) but WhatsApp won in the end.

Re: Apple Invites

#792

Post by kthartic »

rcarmo wrote: post #787

I have an idea about why Apple is doing this, but my key takeaway is that they should really read the room and sort out their QA (Spotlight is broken in the latest Sequoia) and platform strategy (the iPad is still gimped) instead of spending engineering resources in another Clips-like fiasco.

> my key takeaway is that they should really read the room

I guarantee the pool of people who really care about those issues/are affected by them is tiny. For example, I use my MacBook daily and haven't noticed any Spotlight issues. I have an iPad too - what's wrong with it? This is coming from someone who works in tech, the average Joe isn't gonna care.

I for one am happy to see an app like this. Currently the only way to get my friends together is through a group chat, and it's always a mess.

Re: Apple Invites

#793

Post by basisword »

crmd wrote: post #384
Zak wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's only true if everyone in the group has an Apple phone, which has decreasing probability with every additional member. Excluding people from a conversation because they don't have the right brand of phone would be pretty antisocial.

Unfortunately it happens all the time in my friends circle, and it's for technical not anti-social reasons. Group texts that include Android users are so buggy that they tend to die out, whereas iMessage-only groups tend to be long lasting. For this reason we use WhatsApp for the core group chat, but there's still a ton of side-conversations and meme-ing in iMessage groups.

>> For this reason we use WhatsApp for the core group chat, but there's still a ton of side-conversations and meme-ing in iMessage groups.

I don't understand why you would use two chat systems when you know one is excluding some friends? Why not just centralise on WhatsApp which you're already using? Serious question. I can understand why switching is a big ask but when you're already using the multi-platform option part of the time switching back and forth seems unnecessary and inconvenient.

Re: Apple Invites

#794

Post by sharpshadow »

esolyt wrote: post #652
basisword wrote: post #546

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.

There is no indication they haven't read the article. This product, much like iMessage and others, provides an inferior experience to non-Apple users. It aims to make other devices and operating systems look less capable and cheap. iMessage also partially works with other phones. This doesn't change the fact that its intention is to create a lock-in effect, as evidenced by internal Apple emails.

I would rather join an Apple Invite Group than a WhatsApp Group.

If they now make it possible to invite people in your radius they even get a share of dating apps.

Re: Apple Invites

#796

Post by fsflover »

sharpshadow wrote: post #794
esolyt wrote: post #652

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no indication they haven't read the article. This product, much like iMessage and others, provides an inferior experience to non-Apple users. It aims to make other devices and operating systems look less capable and cheap. iMessage also partially works with other phones. This doesn't change the fact that its intention is to create a lock-in effect, as evidenced by internal Apple emails.

I would rather join an Apple Invite Group than a WhatsApp Group. If they now make it possible to invite people in your radius they even get a share of dating apps.

How about a Matrix group? https://matrix.org

Re: Apple Invites

#797

Post by lordofgibbons »

basisword wrote: post #546
lordofgibbons wrote: post #362

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.

Sometimes it's also good to stop worshiping trillion dollar companies who abuse their market dominance.

While tech-literate Apple users couldn't tell the difference, their images and videos were sent in potato quality to non-Apple devices. So while technically, they could communicate with non-Apple users, it was a bad experience for anyone not in "walled garden".

p.s Not taking features put out by Apple at face-value doesn't mean I didn't read the article.

Re: Apple Invites

#798

Post by fsflover »

paper2d wrote: post #651
manmal wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An Android emulator with Play Services should work in theory, but I haven’t tried it. They could have extra checks to prevent that.

You can install whatsapp on degoogled phones as well! No need of play services.

> degoogled phones

It's still Android. How do I do it on a GNU/Linux phone?

Re: Apple Invites

#799

Post by fsflover »

EA-3167 wrote: post #366
freedomben wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes the classic false dichotomy, that it either has to be closed/proprietary/locked down and "just works" or it can be open but unusable. In reality the two are completely orthogonal. There's nothing magical about publishing the source that suddenly changes the code or the product and breaks it. If Apple open sourced ever line of code they have tonight, would iPhones suddenly stop working?

So, what's stopping you from becoming Apple's competition? If a significant number of people crave your idea of FOSS and you have ideas to make a superior product, I'm sure the market will reward you.

Did you ever see any Linux laptop in a store? They do have some market share but never existed to the ordinary people.

Also, GNU/Linux phones exist (Librem 5 is my daily driver). However without Apple's budgets, you can't create the same smooth experience. You just can't compete with the duopoly.

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