[polar8]

iMessage lockin is really just an America-centric problem. Rest of world uses Whatsapp, which I find actually works better than iMessage. This gives me hope that Americans will eventually switch over to Whatsapp too. For now, if you want a social life in America, you need iMessage, at least in my circles. I am part of exactly 0 group texts that have android users. Having a single android user just completely breaks group texts, so those users are harassed by their peers until they get an iPhone.

[rootusrootus]

I find it fascinating that Europeans are so enamored with Facebook that they choose it over Apple. I don't expect this attitude to become normal in the US anytime soon, if ever. The FB brand is becoming toxic.

[TeaBrain]

Many may have already been users before the acquisition by Facebook. There were apparently over 400 million active users prior to the acquisition.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140412064444/http://blog.whats...

[RestlessMind]

1. People care about money a lot more than about privacy. That leads to avoiding SMS / iPhone in a lot of countries.

2. WhatsApp is intentionally kept as a separate brand. Half of its users wouldn't even know that it's owned by FB.

[D13Fd]

I'd have to be pretty desperate before I would trust Facebook/Meta with all of my communications (even with supposed end-to-end encryption).

[lockhouse]

Meh, iMessage is good, but not a lock-in level feature for me. I don't think anyone over the age of 16 cares what color their "bubble" is. LOL. Now the integration across the entire Apple ecosystem is another story. I'm absolutely hooked on how all my Apple products work together almost perfectly.

[btreecat]

Funny, I find it easy enough to harass folks to join Signal.