[fidotron]

> This seems to be a common issue for all countries, the US included.

The US is much more resistant to it, which is a major factor in iOS share being higher and WhatsApp being an almost complete non event.

Similarly those same users bought into the iOS option entirely because of the better privacy enabled by not being "free" in the price sense. In a very real sense Apple are the regulators of their platform in that they define and execute the policies. People buy into it because they like that aspect of things, and prefer the Apple regulations to those created by their governments. The EU want to override the regulations of the platform, except being short sighted they don't appreciate the effects of their suggestions, and so they're being played particularly by Meta.

> This is not the case and we're going to slowly move to a place where the hardware is independent of the software and vice-versa for smartphones.

People have been saying this from the start, but if anything it's now diverging faster than before. If you launch a service today and have no native app presence you will not be regarded as credible in the marketplace.

[LunaSea]

> The US is much more resistant to it, which is a major factor in iOS share being higher and WhatsApp being an almost complete non event.

iOS has a larger market share in the US because iPhones are a status symbol in America whereas Europeans couldn't care less.

Which in turn makes iMessages market share larger in the US than in Europe.

iPhone market share is also pretty stagnant since 2023 in the US and way down worldwide since then.

If anything, I would consider the US WhatsApp user base numbers (~64M users) to be much more impressive than the iMessage user counts (~130 iPhone owners) because WhatsApp is not installed by default.

> People buy into it because they like that aspect of things, and prefer the Apple regulations to those created by their governments.

This very much has yet to be proven since "those (policies) created by their governments" has not been made possible by Apple yet. If Apple is so confident in their software quality, this additional competition should not be an issue for them.

> If you launch a service today and have no native app presence you will not be regarded as credible in the marketplace.

I meant that you'll buy the hardware but will then have the choice to install different operating systems and app market places. The same way computers have worked for the last 30 years.

[fidotron]

> iPhones are a status symbol in America whereas Europeans couldn't care less.

Europeans absolutely could, they're just too tight fisted to actually spend money on things like protecting privacy which is a major part of the whole problem.

They are perfectly fine spending money on luxury cars.

[LunaSea]

> Europeans absolutely could, they're just too tight fisted to actually spend money on things like protecting privacy which is a major part of the whole problem.

Users in the US don't care about protecting their privacy either.

Examples:

1. Google Chrome market share in the US

2. GMail market share in the US

3. Google Search market share in the US

[fidotron]

> Users in the US don't care about protecting their privacy either.

They absolutely do, you just like to dismiss it as being about status.

It was similar when RIM were on top in north america. The status came because of their association with business because they provided secure messaging. High status people care about privacy and security.

[LunaSea]

> They absolutely do, you just like to dismiss it as being about status.

No, they don't. I just gave you three counter examples.

Why is it that iPhone users prefer GMail over iCloud Mail?

Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/34197/share-of-us-respondents...

> The status came because of their association with business because they provided secure messaging.

Users have no understanding of security. High status or not.

[fidotron]

> Users have no understanding of security. High status or not.

Upper middle class americans absolutely do, or they don't stay that way for very long. The US has a culture of a lot more personal responsibility, and a lot less trust of the government to handle it.

> Why is it that iPhone users prefer GMail over iCloud Mail?

They already had it from before people realized it was a bait and switch. Work users will almost certainly be using the Exchange integration, and private messaging is done via iMessage.