[Barrin92]

because Asia leap-frogged over old internet protocols in favor of platforms, whereas a lot of Western systems are tied into email, websites and the crawlable/open web. Same reason SMS is still popular in the US compared to ip-based chatting everywhere else.

[echelon]

Leap-frogged has the connotation of "progress".

Walled gardens and controlled ecosystems are horrible and concentrate power in the gatekeepers.

I hope the experience is kludgy and user unfriendly to the point that startups not contained in the straightjackets of other systems continue to win out.

[afiori]

On the other hand the only ecosystem where SMS work decently is the Apple walled garden that IIUC is not run on actuall SMS technology.