The long fight to make Apple’s iMessage compatible with all devices has raged with little to show for it. But Google (de facto leader of the charge) and other mobile operators are now leveraging the European Union’s Digital Market Act (DMA), according to the Financial Times. The law, which goes into effect in 2024, requires that “gatekeepers” not favor their own systems or limit third parties from interoperating within them. Gatekeepers are any company that meets specific financial and usage qualifications, including Google’s parent company Alphabet, Apple, Samsung and others.
Basically in a lot of Europe texting was or still is expensive and not unlimited and WhatsApp was a free alternative and Meta did not own it at the time.
So everyone was like well fuck texting and adopted apps like WhatsApp and then Meta bought WhatsApp. Now in these countries it’s the defacto standard whether you like it or not. Businesses, people, and even sometimes government uses it as the default way to text. It sucks.
Also WhatsApp had photos and shit. And no, MMS doesn’t count. I don’t even want to hear about MMS anymore.
MMS and UMTS videocalls were dead in the water the second mobile carriers tried to charge a truckload for that. They did this, they basically made Whatsapp the standard.
We use Whatsapp a lot in Europe, but business fronts still communicate with phone and email. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, everything is on whatsapp! You book an hotel? whatsapp message. You need a taxi? whatsapp! you want to order in room service? send a whatsapp message, there’s not even a phone in the room. A tour guide will contact you directly on whatsapp, if you don’t have it installed, good luck.
Doesn’t it just use you phone number though? Like I could set it to be my default texting app, just like a ton of different texting apps.
Yes, why?
So it’s more that companies text you. You don’t need WhatsApp to send or receive those texts. So why do you need it installed or good luck? Is there some other functionality?
Here in the Netherlands a ton of businesses use WhatsApp. You see it listed as a primary contact method on stationary, signs, vehicles, advertisements, etc all the time here.
That’s fascinating! Love NL btw, amazing country!
I wish the US could have been the same in developing on internet messaging. Instead, It’s virtually impossible to find a plan that doesn’t have unlimited SMS and therefore no one ever sees the antiqueness of SMS to be an issue.
I see pros and cons to it. I really do not like having WhatsApp be the default text platform. Seems like a huge conflict of interest.
One thing the EU is a clear winner on now is plan pricing. It’s insane how much cheaper cell service here than in the states.