Well it was a fun few days but beeper mini is down. Someone supposedly affiliated with the project said on reddit it was on Beeper’s end but people testing it say Apple has blocked something.

  • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    11 months ago

    Apple does not want to switch. Apple likes their trapped prey in a walled garden. They will do a minimalist RCS implementation. And then when people fail to adopt it because it purposely doesn’t have the features that iMessage has. They can feign that they complied. But the people have spoken and they want the monopoly.

    And what really would be the cost of catering to those people? I think plenty of Android people would be happy if they were even a second thought as long as they were a thought at all. If beeper was actually selling subscriptions for this. Apple is actively trying not to do business. They could easily provide this service for the same price or more that they give to Apple users for free. It’s like Apple doesn’t want money. Or that they think there’s more money to be had by keeping their users locks down and trapped.

    • woelkchen@lemmy.worldEnglish
      122·
      11 months ago

      Apple does not want to switch.

      Are confusing Apple, the company, with Apple users? Apple users all over the world happily use other messengers (usually WhatsApp). It’s only the Americans who are being weird.

      • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
        52·
        11 months ago

        Nope.

        You aren’t wrong that there are outlier markets, where iPhone doesn’t have the same market dominance. Or for unrelated reasons don’t have the lock on messaging that Apple has in the US. You’re confusing the outliers for the core group.

        Is kind of funny you even mentioned WhatsApp. Do you understand how WhatsApp got to where it is? It wasn’t by being the best or most competitive. It took root in a lot of European countries where smartphone adoption was much slower and later. Ultimately it’s almost the same issues as iMessage. Just for Europe. Literally the EU is trying to legislate to force them to be interoperable and open just like Apple and iMessage. Even suggesting it is kind of tone deaf.

        But here’s a thought experiment to leave you with. Why can’t IM be like email? Why shouldn’t it be like email? Why should we leave these services at the whim and total control of wealthy, oligarchs and fascists?

        • woelkchen@lemmy.worldEnglish
          31·
          11 months ago

          You don’t need to leave any thought experiments with me. I was making the point that only in the US the iPhone users are so brainwashed to stick to iMessage at all costs.

          Btw, your explanation makes no sense because the first iPhones had no iMessage. iMessage only launched in 2011, meaning they had years to use something cross platform and then migrate away.

          • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            11 months ago

            Yes but you tried to hand wave it away because only European users are brainwashed to stick to WhatsApp at all cost. Neither is good. Both can and should be better. The existence of one does not exempt the other.

            It makes plenty of sense if you understand the history. Apple for all their faults did get the first modern smart phone out. They had a lot of momentum from that. And with iMessage they parlayed that into lock in.

            • woelkchen@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              11 months ago

              I’m not advocating in favor of WhatsApp specifically, I’m advocating for cross platform messaging in general. iMessage is clearly among the worst options, given it’s tied to one specific ecosystem.