Live data from Hacker News

Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

macrumors.com

31–40 of 202 posts

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#31

I'm not surprised by the iMessage decision*, but on the Bing case I'm personally still on the bench. I guess that API-only use is exempt from DMA? * Americans, virtually no one uses iMessage outside your country, or at least to the point that it'll force you to get an iPhone. Even Japan, with their love with iPhones, uses a homegrown service for their messaging needs.

Plenty of people use it in Australia…

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#32

I'm not surprised by the iMessage decision*, but on the Bing case I'm personally still on the bench. I guess that API-only use is exempt from DMA? * Americans, virtually no one uses iMessage outside your country, or at least to the point that it'll force you to get an iPhone. Even Japan, with their love with iPhones, uses a homegrown service for their messaging needs.

Pretty common in the UK. I think iMessage is common in English speaking countries with high iPhone usage.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#33
post #6

I'm not surprised by the iMessage decision*, but on the Bing case I'm personally still on the bench. I guess that API-only use is exempt from DMA? * Americans, virtually no one uses iMessage outside your country, or at least to the point that it'll force you to get an iPhone. Even Japan, with their love with iPhones, uses a homegrown service for their messaging needs.

Most Swedes I know use iMessage actually. That's very anecdotal tho

French here. I still use iMessage for family and friends one to one discussions but group chats are exclusively on WhatsApp here… and I’ve got tons. Too much. For every circle and sometimes more than one per circle depending on the subject. Are US people using iMessage for this ?

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#34
post #27
post #9

Chat protocols being standardized would be way more useful for me as a user than having "alternate app stores". Many app stores is actually a negative for me, going by my experience from Windows gaming.

>going by my experience from Windows gaming. Could you elaborate? Steam is a negative and Microsoft Store is a positive experience?

They probably mean it's annoying to be forced to get the EPIC store or battle.net just for the 1-2 interesting games that are not on Steam.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#35
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, in what sense did it come "for free" in the USA?

In the U.S.A., people use iMessage by default, because they use text messaging. People don't use texts in Europe (we use WhatsApp and similar, but WhatsApp by a long margin). The reason people still use texts in the U.S.A. is up for debate, and it's something I've thought about for a long time.

I think it's a historical artifact -- by the time that iMessage launched, the US was well into the phase of free, unlimited texting, so there was no barrier to "just texting". Since there was also no barrier (in terms of costs, subscriptions, or installation friction) to using iMessage, it was a drop-in upgrade of the user experience for SMS.

In contrast, I still have to pay a fee to send SMS messages to my European relatives, so there's a financial incentive to overcome that initial friction to switch messaging provider.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#36

I'm not surprised by the iMessage decision*, but on the Bing case I'm personally still on the bench. I guess that API-only use is exempt from DMA? * Americans, virtually no one uses iMessage outside your country, or at least to the point that it'll force you to get an iPhone. Even Japan, with their love with iPhones, uses a homegrown service for their messaging needs.

Pretty common in the UK. I think iMessage is common in English speaking countries with high iPhone usage.

I use SMS/iMessage for most one-to-one messaging, but never for group chats. For groups, I use only WhatsApp and a little Signal. I'm in the UK.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#37

I'm not surprised by the iMessage decision*, but on the Bing case I'm personally still on the bench. I guess that API-only use is exempt from DMA? * Americans, virtually no one uses iMessage outside your country, or at least to the point that it'll force you to get an iPhone. Even Japan, with their love with iPhones, uses a homegrown service for their messaging needs.

WhatsApp is almost the de-facto standard for messaging in Europe, with cash transfers usually seconded to Revolut.

iMessage in the US is, to put it bluntly, a self-selecting cult. The amount of articles, podcasts and dating vlogs that detail how common it is to straight up discount a member of the opposite sex from dating based on not having an iPhone is testament to this.

In an OKCupid Poll (which is about as transparent as dating bigdata ever got) 27% of respondents felt that green bubbles were less desirable than mansplaining in terms of dealbreakers in a potential partner...

https://www.androidauthority.com/green-bubble-phenomenon-102... https://www.cnet.com/culture/iphone-or-android-your-phone-ch... https://nypost.com/2019/08/14/sorry-android-users-these-ipho...

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#38
post #9

Chat protocols being standardized would be way more useful for me as a user than having "alternate app stores". Many app stores is actually a negative for me, going by my experience from Windows gaming.

> way more useful for me as a user than having "alternate app stores"

It's not only alternative app stores. It's browsers with ad-blockers, youtube clients that auto-skip sponsor messages in the middle of videos and apps for $0, that cost money on the main app store - although their code is open source.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#39
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>going by my experience from Windows gaming. Could you elaborate? Steam is a negative and Microsoft Store is a positive experience?

They probably mean it's annoying to be forced to get the EPIC store or battle.net just for the 1-2 interesting games that are not on Steam.

Correct. But at the same time GP is right that without the freedom to have alternative "app stores" on Windows, Steam couldn't exist.

Re: Apple's iMessage avoids EU's Digital Markets Act regulation

#40
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the U.S.A., people use iMessage by default, because they use text messaging. People don't use texts in Europe (we use WhatsApp and similar, but WhatsApp by a long margin). The reason people still use texts in the U.S.A. is up for debate, and it's something I've thought about for a long time.

I think it's a historical artifact -- by the time that iMessage launched, the US was well into the phase of free, unlimited texting, so there was no barrier to "just texting". Since there was also no barrier (in terms of costs, subscriptions, or installation friction) to using iMessage, it was a drop-in upgrade of the user experience for SMS. In contrast, I still have to pay a fee to send SMS messages to my European…

Agreed, and additionally, at that time there were no significant SMS alternatives in the US, most people had dumb phones, and no messaging apps came with the sort of supplementary features we have grown accustomed to in the past ten years.
Post reply on HN