Everybody has agreed that the default messaging app is Whatsapp over here. I haven’t seen anybody use anything else for texting in ages, on either platform.
I don’t think you guys realize how bizarre this conversation sounds to me.
Everyone knows, because anytime anyone talks about SMS/MMS/RCS somebody comes in to remind people that it’s mostly a US thing. SMS/MMS started to become cheap in the early 00s in most of the US (and unlimited free for users of the same carrier was common) and as carriers raced to compete by the late 00s, unlimited SMS/MMS was commonly free in the US, even to users outside their own carrier. All carriers had interoperability with SMS/MMS already. Even iMessage falls back to SMS/MMS outside of iMessage. It is pretty logical that SMS/MMS became what most people used in the US.
Elsewhere, Whatsapp came out when much of the rest of the world was still paying for the number of text messages sent or they could use a miniscule amount of their data and use something else.
I’m not surprised, that is a very strange arrangement and the conversation sounds nuts from the outside looking in.
Maybe start caveating it with “for those of us in North America” or something. From over here it really sounds like you guys are mashing random keys on your keyboard.
For the record, while SMS still being paid above a certain number was a factor, we were already vastly defaulting to messaging apps before Whatsapp took over. It wasn’t rare to give people your MSN Messenger info rather than your phone number even during the feature phone era. Texting was always more of a commercial thing and for finding people in the street rather than a thing to have long chats.
Fair enough, I suppose. It’s still a very culturally specific, bizarre-sounding controversy from outside the US. It’s not a surprise that people would point that out when Americans get stuck in heated debates about it.
I hear ya. Yeah I don’t see why they couldn’t incorporate RCS to fall back on instead of SMS. They could even keep iMessage and everything would be better for everyone.
That’s the thing. Essentially everyone has agreed, except for Apple. This includes 12 phone manufacturers and at least 55 operators world-wide.
Even Microsoft since Windows 10 supports RCS in the Your Phone app, so if you’re using a Windows desktop or laptop, even it supports RCS.
Everybody has agreed that the default messaging app is Whatsapp over here. I haven’t seen anybody use anything else for texting in ages, on either platform.
I don’t think you guys realize how bizarre this conversation sounds to me.
Everyone knows, because anytime anyone talks about SMS/MMS/RCS somebody comes in to remind people that it’s mostly a US thing. SMS/MMS started to become cheap in the early 00s in most of the US (and unlimited free for users of the same carrier was common) and as carriers raced to compete by the late 00s, unlimited SMS/MMS was commonly free in the US, even to users outside their own carrier. All carriers had interoperability with SMS/MMS already. Even iMessage falls back to SMS/MMS outside of iMessage. It is pretty logical that SMS/MMS became what most people used in the US.
Elsewhere, Whatsapp came out when much of the rest of the world was still paying for the number of text messages sent or they could use a miniscule amount of their data and use something else.
We know. It always comes up.
I’m not surprised, that is a very strange arrangement and the conversation sounds nuts from the outside looking in.
Maybe start caveating it with “for those of us in North America” or something. From over here it really sounds like you guys are mashing random keys on your keyboard.
For the record, while SMS still being paid above a certain number was a factor, we were already vastly defaulting to messaging apps before Whatsapp took over. It wasn’t rare to give people your MSN Messenger info rather than your phone number even during the feature phone era. Texting was always more of a commercial thing and for finding people in the street rather than a thing to have long chats.
I mean, this is a thread about US phone use.
It’s not, though? It’s an article on an Android-focused site about the state of Android extrapolating global trends from US stats.
I guess that makes it about US phone use in that “you shouldn’t extrapolate global trends from US phone use” is a relevant point about it.
Second sentence in the article:
The article is US centric and mentions studies and the market in the US all over the article. The article even talks about RCS and the issue there.
This is a strange conversation indeed but I don’t think it is for the reason you think it is.
Fair enough, I suppose. It’s still a very culturally specific, bizarre-sounding controversy from outside the US. It’s not a surprise that people would point that out when Americans get stuck in heated debates about it.
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I hear ya. Yeah I don’t see why they couldn’t incorporate RCS to fall back on instead of SMS. They could even keep iMessage and everything would be better for everyone.