Earlier quoted context omitted.
what are the main problems with animated GIFs in your mind? for us being playable in just about every context on the web/mobile was really important
Most animated GIF 'players' have zero controls for play, pause, feedback for buffering. It doesn't handle audio, and file sizes are huge.
yup, we had to tradeoff controls, buffering, audio, and filesize for ubiquity of consumption and simplicity of user experience (i.e. inline/autoplay). Have you tried gifs in an iMessage? They're really fun to add to your texting!