[sampo]

It is true that international texting is expensive in Europe, whereas inter-state texting is free in US. But while Americans usually have circles of friends spread over several states, an international circle of friends is less common in Europe.

I think the reason is that a typical cell phone plan in Europe was like 5€ per month, plus 0.07 cents per text (or call minute). Whereas typical American plan was $50 month, but unlimited free text and calls. So people who text lot didn't want to pay even for the tiny amounts for individual text messages, and migrated to using apps.

The all-inclusive fixed price monthly plans are only now getting more popular in Europe.