As a German I see more glances of WhatsApp on iPhones than iMessage.
But I have to be honest: The video call is very neat in the Apple ecosystem.
Comment on Apple has seemingly found a way to block Android’s new iMessage app
Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months agoApple has always been a closed ecosystem, doing things “their way”. When they only sold computers, it was a niche company, with a niche audience. Then they started selling phones, and they became a popular company. The blue vs green bubble is just an American problem, that still use SMS as their main messaging protocol. The rest of the world use messaging app, like WhatsApp. It’s truly fascinating watching these events from outside the US.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
We are lucky the EU is forcing them to adopt standards and not abuse their power. Maybe we’ll see some progress. New iPhones coming with USB-C is a good start, and ironically, I think it will make them sell more phones. But regarding blue vs green bubbles, the massive adoption of WhatsApp in the EU (fuelled by the green of Telcons charging per SMS) made us immune to this discussion.
Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
I actually had no idea until now that anyone still charged money for SMS, outside the U.S. or otherwise.
Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I just looked at a mobile plan in Movistar (Spain). The page is in Spanish, but I guess you can understand the part I marked in red.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
For that for now.
I am looking forward to how it will progress.
So far I felt like we are doing a downward trend towards the US style of living.Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It’s interesting: in all my ignorance, my perception is that it’s the Germans the ones that feel more and more like the Americans (other than the British). But it may be just a wrong perception on my part. I honestly don’t know for certain.
willya@lemmyf.uk 11 months ago
But also comparing an apple owned app to a Facebook owned app is hilarious.
Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Really? Why is that? Why you can’t compare two instant messaging apps? What is so hilarious?
Btw, WhatsApp was made by a different company, and then bought by Meta, when it was already the most used instant messaging app in the EU. And it has a lot of really nice features. There’s a reason so many people use it.
willya@lemmyf.uk 11 months ago
Yes, I know all of this. What do you think meta is doing with all that data?
Phrodo_00@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You mean all that metadata? As far as we know, all messages are e2e encrypted and no one has proven it otherwise.
bnaur@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Wouldn’t it be more correct to say that most Americans also use a messaging app (iMessage). The rest are just stuck with SMS to have compatibility with iPhone users.
As the iPhone was (is?) not as popular in Europe as it was (is) in the States that might also be one of the reasons why people here ditched SMS so quickly once smartphones got popular.
Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
But it’s not “most”, it’s more like half of Americans use iMessage (that’s not an app, it’s a service, the app is called Messages), and the other half uses SMS with different apps.
The factor that moved people away from SMS was telecom companies charging for it. SMS is virtually free for telecom companies, but European companies got greedy, and people moved to WhatsApp. They tried to block it, but accepted defeat after a while.
In the US, SMS is free with your phone plan, and it became popular with young people until iMessage appeared. Since iPhones are still subsidized by US telcos (afaik, correct me if I’m wrong), a lot of young people have iPhones and use iMessage, that’s far superior to SMS.
Chriswild@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Originally they focused on computers that could do more for less. They encouraged people to open them up and upgrade or more them.
It wasn’t till the 2000’s that they started locking everything down.
Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
But remember: instead of going with DOS, or a PC compatible system, they developed their own OS. It’s always been closed. And doing things “their way”.
I’ve been a Mac user for more than 30 years, and I’ve always been isolated from the PC ecosystem. No PC Card was ever usable with a Mac, until they changed to Intel processors in 2005, and even then, you didn’t have drivers for those, you have to rely on some outside development. You could barely read PC files, and most PC couldn’t read Mac files without external software until Apple changed to Mac OS X in 2001. PC peripherals were incompatible (different connectors and electrical requirements) until Apple introduced USB with the iMac in 1998 (and the PC ecosystem caught up with it).
While Macs were (somewhat) upgradeable, you needed to buy Mac specific parts to do it, made by Apple approved vendors.
So, It’s always been a walled garden. I know, I was there before the iPhone, before the iPod. They’re doing nothing different from when they started. The different is in society: internet appeared, and we now expect everything to work with everything. We expect to be interconnected. But Apple? They always liked to be their own thing, to be different (“think different”, remember?).
So, it’s just normal Apple behaviour. Expecting anything different is not knowing what Apple really is. Fortunately, the EU thinks doing things “the Apple way” is no longer valid, and is forcing them to adopt standards, and don’t abuse their position. But they’re doing it reluctantly, complaining, and putting a fight.
Kazumara@feddit.de 11 months ago
The way you use “PC” as a synonym for “Windows” proves that you are indeed a long term Mac user.
Dmian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
…and an old fart, hahaha!
bamboo@lemm.ee 11 months ago
While the bit about file interoperability may be more windows-specific, there is such a thing as the “PC Ecosystem”. The software has alternative: dominated by DOS, then Windows, but also available are Linux and the various minor UNIX-likes, but the hardware really is a specific ecosystem based on a specific set of standards.
whofearsthenight@lemm.ee 11 months ago
There is truth in what you’re saying, but I think it’s missing a lot of nuance especially when it comes to why a lot of the things you’re saying are true. A few quick things:
Apple developed the original Mac OS to be the first major GUI OS, and MS was left struggling to catch up. Going with DOS would have been a major step back, and set computing back significantly.
which was originally more to do with IBM than Apple.
This was less because Apple wanted it to be that way, and more because Microsoft wanted it that way. The reason things switched in 2001 isn’t specifically because of OS X, it’s because Apple did a deal with MS in '99 or so (and MS only did it likely to avoid more regulatory scrutiny after losing an anti-trust case) and part of that deal was more interoperability. Apple had advertising campaigns basically saying “don’t worry, you can switch to Mac and bring your files with you.”
This is also true, but again misses a crucial piece of context - they do it that way because they think it’s generally better and makes better products, and I think you’d generally have to be pretty unstable to argue otherwise. Think about snapshots in time - in the 80’s when it was DOS and original Mac OS. Do our computers look and work like DOS or Mac now? Compare modern laptops to a '94 powerbook or whatever was on the PC market. The modern phone and the modern OS compared to what came before iPhone. Or take a gander what Android looked like pre/post iPhone announcement; spoilers, it was a blackberry knock off instead of an iPhone knock off.) Even Windows today looks and acts more like macOS than it has since probably the 3.1 days.
Even some of the more seemingly shitty decisions follow this pattern. Remember, iMessage came out at a time when messages cost either $5-20 for what would now seem like an absurdly small block of messages a month or $0.10 a message. Its initial value prop was that it was stupid to pay that much and if you bought an iPhone you could cut your bill way down. Or Lightning instead of micro USB. MicroUSB couldn’t fulfill all of the functions Lightning could, and it’s a worse connector for a lot of reasons.
I mean, that said, iMessage was definitely designed to keep you on iPhone and it’s being deliberately used as lock in, and there are plenty of other shitty things about Apple (like any other corp) but the virulence with which people hate it is often just because they do not get it any more than I see people mindlessly bash Linux usually with insults that haven’t been true since 2006.
Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Truly you are a sage!
Phrodo_00@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Not really, they’ve always been big on being incompatible for the sake of locking in people: adb, FireWire, iPod requiring iTunes, etc.
bnaur@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The locking down started with the original MacIntosh (or actually with the Lisa I guess). I think they had at least one bit more open period after that, but those have always been exceptions.