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Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

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Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#81

Post by allthetime »

dubcanada wrote: post #19
garygao wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're not encouraging spam with this. We're mainly focused on existing conversational use cases that's currently done over SMS/RCS. They can be more human and expressive when done over iMessage.

For iPhone only users, so right off the bat your product is targeting 50% ish of a companies customer base. And the non iMessage people get a worse experience?

In North America iPhone/android split is far from 50/50. I have 4 different apps running and the split is about 80/20 and has been for a decade. Internationally android is used at a higher rate - but that is decreasing as lesser economies play catch up.

Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#83

Post by MuffinFlavored »

This is a foothold business living entirely at Apple's discretion.

edit: more research

> Chert is in the Sendblue/Blooio lineage, which runs genuine Apple software on real Macs logged into real Apple IDs. They're almost certainly not doing "Beeper Plus again."

Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#84

Post by bomewish »

echelon wrote: post #72
garygao wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple wouldn't ban us since we're not doing anything that would qualify as spam or abuse. Even if that hypothetical event does happen, we have SMS/RCS fallback systems in place so no conversations get stopped or lost

Did the YC interviewers ask you about this risk? Did they ask you about a bigger market you can move into? There's no way this foothold will last. You're going to get massacred. Apple WILL ban you. You're not in some capricious walled garden. You're breaking and entering, and they'll destroy you. There is nothing of value to build here. You should take the rest of the day off, then tomorrow, pivot entirely. The folks…

Why would yc fund them given how obvious the risk is ? Esp since a Mac mini farm is capital intense.

Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#85

Post by trollbridge »

liamcardenas wrote: post #36

A few ideas for you guys: 1. Apple already supports iMessage for Business which is intended to cover the use cases you are targeting. But the set up process is ridiculous (for example: https://help.webexconnect.io/docs/wxcc-apple-messages-for-bu... ). It would be amazing to have "Vercel/Resend for iMessage for Business" 2. If you go the send blue route, please support iMessage app payloads. Send blue doesn't support…

Part of that is agreeing not to spam people and making it very clear you are legitimate business that is easy to contact.

Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#86

Post by trollbridge »

frumplestlatz wrote: post #32
garygao wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't report our phone lines to be spam because the use cases that we focus on are either mostly inbound (e.g. customer service, the user is the one who texts first) or warm opt-in outbound (e.g. form-fill text back or follow ups). Businesses want a better medium to communicate with their users and users want something more conversational and native to their messaging behaviors.

I genuinely can’t tell if this is naivety or willful ignorance, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. This is in direct violation of the terms of service, and Apple invests a lot of money in keeping iMessage clean of this kind of misuse. They control the servers, the client, certificate provisioning, hardware identification, and user identification. They can trivially trace a registered account to the point o…

I also can’t tell why these use cases can’t just use RCS.

Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#87

Post by ctoth »

garygao wrote: post #20
arrsingh wrote: post #13

How does this work? Do you have an agreement with Apple to connect to their iMessage service? If you do then kudos thats a real differentiator. However if you're hosting your own mac mini farm and running bluebubbles or other such things that are not approved by Apple what is your plan to handle the case where you're sending enough traffic through Apple's services that they disable / ban / block you? If its the forme…

Apple wouldn't ban us since we're not doing anything that would qualify as spam or abuse. Even if that hypothetical event does happen, we have SMS/RCS fallback systems in place so no conversations get stopped or lost

Even if your core offering disappears you can do the same thing that every other SMS-sending thing can do?

I also notice you answered the question, but not in the way anyone who needs to depend on this service would want to hear. So yeah you're doing the Mac Mini thing.

I'm with landl0rd. This service should not exist, you should feel bad for creating it, and every time I get a spam iMessage I will think about you and curse your name. Hope the money's worth it.

Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#88

Post by trollbridge »

Yannaner wrote: post #70
dgellow wrote: post #35

> the blue bubble interface, typing indicators, and reactions made agentic conversations feel more human than ones on SMS/RCS Would you mind detailing your reasoning why agents should feel humans, when they very obviously aren’t? Why should we want AI to impersonate humans?

we don't think AI should by any means to pretend to be human, and we are not trying to hide that an agent is involved. What we mean is that conversation should feel natural and low-friction for the person receiving it. These interactions: blue bubble interface, typing indicators, and reactions will make it less like an automated SMS message and more like a normal messaging flow. We are trying to make agentic communic…

How is blue more human than green?

Re: Launch HN: Chert (YC P26) – Twilio for iMessage

#89

Post by parhamn »

ctoth wrote: post #87
garygao wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple wouldn't ban us since we're not doing anything that would qualify as spam or abuse. Even if that hypothetical event does happen, we have SMS/RCS fallback systems in place so no conversations get stopped or lost

Even if your core offering disappears you can do the same thing that every other SMS-sending thing can do? I also notice you answered the question, but not in the way anyone who needs to depend on this service would want to hear. So yeah you're doing the Mac Mini thing. I'm with landl0rd. This service should not exist, you should feel bad for creating it, and every time I get a spam iMessage I will think about you an…

> anyone who needs to depend on this service would want to hear

Are you implying you'd be cool with it if it was Apple sanctioned? That's pretty silly.

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