- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
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I kinda understand it, because iMessage is completely irrelevant outside the US. It still sucks, bacuse more choice and less lock in is always better for consumers.
So the EU grew some balls and then lopped one off, how disappointing…
NO one cares about iMessage here, legislate yourselves.
It doesn’t have a big enough footprint to regulate it in such a way, it’s entirely practical not to do anything.
To be honest I don’t know anyone in Europe using iMessages. We are using Viber, WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal, Telegram, Threema, etc. and none of those options are iOS or Android exclusive.
iMessage is a typical American thing which, we Europeans, have a really hard time comprehending what is the obsession with it.
And we also have a much bigger Android market share, so it would be stupid for iOS users to use some messaging app, that would be iOS exclusive.
iMessage is a typical American thing which, we Europeans, have a really hard time comprehending what is the obsession with it.
To help you comprehend - the big difference is SMS has been free for a long long time in the USA. No other text messaging service has ever been able to get off the ground because why on earth would anyone sign up for Viber / WatsApp / Messenger / Signal / Telegram / Threema / etc, when you could just use SMS which works fine and works for everyone?
Then iMessage came along, and you could keep using “SMS”, only now it’s more reliable, has high resolution photos, delivery confirmation, etc. That was a real improvement over SMS, with no cost at all other than having to stay on the iPhone platform, which you were already on, and who’s going to switch? You’ve got all these apps you found/like and who knows which ones work on Android?
Also, it’s not just the USA. iMessage is big in other markets too. Also ones where SMS has historically been free. The cost of having to pay to send SMS between London/Paris is a pain we never really experienced here, so there was no motivation to try WhatsApp/etc.
The article says that Apple is still planning on making iMessage compatible with RCS, but isn’t Apple’s incentive gone if there’s no longer any EU pressure? How likely is it that Apple will cancel their RCS plans?
There’s still plenty of EU pressure. This was a close enough thing that the EU spent months investigating it before making a decision.
That sends a pretty clear message to Apple “we’re OK with what you’re doing with messaging right now, but only just barely”. If Apple does something the EU doesn’t like, new legislation can be written.
There’s also pressure in the USA and other countries where iMessage is far more widely used. The pressure hasn’t gone anywhere yet, but it definitely could. The USA came down hard on Ma Bell when they dominated the phone industry. They’re so dead most people have forgotten they existed. They were arguably the biggest company in the entire world at the time. Just like Apple is now.
Part of the order against Ma Bell was to order the company to stop selling phones. Imagine if the USA did that again, with Apple this time. I listened to an interview with an antitrust regulator in the USA yesterday (Decoder podcast)… he said they’re short staffed and rely on punitive damages so harsh that other companies choose voluntary compliance, removing the need to actually regulate the whole industry (they don’t have enough people to do that). Pretty scary stuff - the EU’s approach is far gentler.
It’s strange to me that the differences are so vast between different continents.
I know litteraly no one who actually uses iMessage. Never once (in recent years) seen some communicate through a channel that isn’t WhatsApp, Signal or something similar. The whole “ew, green bubbles” drama just isn’t a thing here. (Though the existence of iPhone users still harms society in different ways)
Though I do agree with many commenters that the EU caving to the lobbyists is a bad thing. Having the law only apply to “problems that are big enough to care about” is still a loss for the consumer in the end. I’m all for standardisation and free choice, which means any commercial messaging service should comply. Exceptions only for open source projects funded by non-profit organisations.
It’s also funny that Apple phones are seen as an “old people” thing because they’re for simpletons, let’s be honest
Oh cock off. My home network has seven windows machines and three Linux machines. I love iOS because I fuck around with computers all day, I’m not into fucking around with my phone. I want a secure device that lasts a long time, stays extremely fast, and requires no fucking. My five year old iPhone matches all of this perfectly.
Glad you found an incredibly niche exception to my generalisation lol
Most of my mates who are in tech have iPhones as well. It’s not that niche. It’s a great, fast phone with one-click incremental encrypted image backups so if something fucks up, you’re given a new one and in minutes it’s the exact same phone as the dead one, with zero fucking around.
My brother in Christ, if you have a home network with 7 Windows and 3 Linux machines, you don’t have any mates 😂😂
Airdrop is the “blue bubble” thing where I am. When we’re traveling to poor signal areas (hiking, scuba diving, etc) the iPhone folks share the pictures they took with Airdrop. The Android folks just need to wait for it in whatsapp. And until recently, those pics in whatsapp are compressed to heck.
Android also has “airdrop”. It’s called “nearby share”. Works weekly l exactly the same way so there’s no need to WhatsApp it. You can share it right there with all android users.
Look on your phone settings. There’s also going to be a nearby share quick toggle if you want to turn it on and off manually.
Also press “share” on a photo and nearby share will be an option. Press it and try it out and learn it.
I’m not saying the feature doesn’t exist. I’m just saying that is what happening around me. Even though our community doesn’t use imessage, Android is still the red haired stepchild.
Can’t apple do something good for a change and adopt Matrix?
You joke, but Matrix has been working on protocol design specifically for the Digital Markets Act. If iMessage were to be ruled subject to the DMA, it might mean Apple having to interoperate with (a future version of) Matrix.
(The DMA part of that talk starts at 25:00.)
I don’t like Matrix, but that’d be an improvement.
(It supports bridging anyway, so one could use an XMPP-Matrix bridge and a Matrix-crapland bridge simultaneously)
What’s wrong with Matrix?
YESSSS! Let’s hope apple does have to adopt this, it would be so helpful when communicating with apple users
Not going to happen. How do you think they became 2.000.000.000.000 + company? D finitely by not letting their customers off the hook.
They might earn some respect from people who use android, and they might buy an iPhone
Apple has announced they are adding RCS support.
RCS is not an open standard and is partially owned by Google.
