Apple allegedly arguing iMessage isn't big enough to be EU gatekeeper service
Apple allegedly arguing iMessage isn't big enough to be EU gatekeeper service
With just days to go before the European Union's Digital Markets Act designates gatekeepers, Apple is allegedly arguing iMessage isn't popular enough to be classified as a gatekeeper service.
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tbf, Apple‘s iMessage dominance is mostly a US based phenomenon. In European countries, many people use WhatsApp and telegram. Anecdotal evidence: I don’t know anybody using iMessage.
Same, I don’t know anyone using iMessage and I’m deep into Apple circles.
Same in France. Apple or not, it’s still mostly WhatsApp and a bit of Telegram around me. Only old iPhone users who haven’t installed anything are using iMessage because it’s the default application.
I live in the states and I do not know a single person who still uses WhatsApp. Everyone uses iMessage.
Has WhatsApp ever been bigger than iMessage there? From what I heard it was basically SMS → iMessage
Part of the reason was because of sms pricing on thr earlier days. Sms was quickly free in the U.S, so they used sms because it was there. Many regions used whatsapp and similar to avoid sms charges in the early days. That usage habit still exists today
You also have a lot of movement of people between countries in the EU, and international SMS still isn’t unlimited/free for most mobile plans worldwide.
People in each country used whatever everyone else is using. In the US that became text/iMessage. This was partially driven by the way cell companies charged in the US with free texts but limits on data (iMessage uses data, but it came later).
In other countries the better at the time options won out. We talk to our friends in Europe and Africa with WhatsApp.
That’s not quite what I see in France. Many people use Whatsapp to text friends/family when they’re abroad. But everyday, I mostly see classic SMS texts (or iMessage)