1y ago

Google and major mobile carriers want Europe to regulate Apple's iMessage platform

www.engadget.com Google and major mobile carriers want Europe to regulate Apple's iMessage platform

The EU's Digital Market Act prohibits Apple and other tech giants from favoring their own systems.

The long fight to make Apple's iMessage compatible with all devices has raged with little to show for it. But Google (de facto leader of the charge) and other mobile operators are now leveraging the European Union's Digital Market Act (DMA), according to the Financial Times. The law, which goes into effect in 2024, requires that "gatekeepers" not favor their own systems or limit third parties from interoperating within them. Gatekeepers are any company that meets specific financial and usage qualifications, including Google's parent company Alphabet, Apple, Samsung and others.

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204 comments

But nobody in Europe uses iMessage.
- I presume apple users do occasionally..
  I guess this is a way for google to force apple to open the protocol since they can't just open it in the EU, so it affects the US too. But the EU don't have to listen to google.. if imessage is such a minor player they may just leave it alone.
  
  We use it when WhatsApp has server problems every once in a while or for a round of GamePigeon.
  Ironically, in Europe you'd be "missing out" on most group conversations if you'd insist on using iMessage, as most of your buddies probably have an Android phone with WhatsApp installed.
  
  The EU won't leave Apple alone, that's the whole purpose of the Digital Markets Act (prevent "gatekeepers" from excluding other players).
  The irony here is that Google is throwing stones when they have huge glass roofs. This law will certainly bite them back elsewhere, hopefully. We need strong laws to curb these modern day robber barons.
  
  Not really.
  For example, in Sweden, probably half as high of a percentage of people have iPhones as the US and yet everyone uses Facebook messenger and whatsapp, at least when I studied there 5 years ago.
- I never understood why WhatsApp is so popular. I used it (a long time ago) and just don't see it.
  
  It's the network effect. Everyone else uses it - so it is easier to just use it than to not use it.
  
  Basically in a lot of Europe texting was or still is expensive and not unlimited and WhatsApp was a free alternative and Meta did not own it at the time.
  So everyone was like well fuck texting and adopted apps like WhatsApp and then Meta bought WhatsApp. Now in these countries it's the defacto standard whether you like it or not. Businesses, people, and even sometimes government uses it as the default way to text. It sucks.
  
  Also WhatsApp had photos and shit. And no, MMS doesn't count. I don't even want to hear about MMS anymore.
  
  MMS and UMTS videocalls were dead in the water the second mobile carriers tried to charge a truckload for that. They did this, they basically made Whatsapp the standard.
  
  I wish the US could have been the same in developing on internet messaging. Instead, It's virtually impossible to find a plan that doesn't have unlimited SMS and therefore no one ever sees the antiqueness of SMS to be an issue.
  
  I see pros and cons to it. I really do not like having WhatsApp be the default text platform. Seems like a huge conflict of interest.
  One thing the EU is a clear winner on now is plan pricing. It's insane how much cheaper cell service here than in the states.
  
  We use Whatsapp a lot in Europe, but business fronts still communicate with phone and email. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, everything is on whatsapp! You book an hotel? whatsapp message. You need a taxi? whatsapp! you want to order in room service? send a whatsapp message, there's not even a phone in the room. A tour guide will contact you directly on whatsapp, if you don't have it installed, good luck.
  
  Doesn't it just use you phone number though? Like I could set it to be my default texting app, just like a ton of different texting apps.
  
  Yes, why?
  
  So it's more that companies text you. You don't need WhatsApp to send or receive those texts. So why do you need it installed or good luck? Is there some other functionality?
  
  Here in the Netherlands a ton of businesses use WhatsApp. You see it listed as a primary contact method on stationary, signs, vehicles, advertisements, etc all the time here.
  
  That's fascinating! Love NL btw, amazing country!
  
  Because it gave the possibility of free text and calling over the internet , that was a big deal for many developing countries and it is very simple to use. Like I heard some Apple fanboys said that iMessage comes already installed with the phone? And on my mind I am like : How hard is to download an app and just put your phone number you are up and running in less than 2 minutes.
  
  Even in non developing countries. Texting has historically been expensive and limited in a lot of the EU. My plan is still limited to something like 150 texts a month and I'd have to pay extra to work around that, but even if I did it wouldn't be worth the money because nobody uses text here.
  
  You want to tell Europe is a developing country? 😂 /s
  
  Lol no , It just that Europeans are not lazy as some Americans who can't even take 2 minutes to install an app.
  
  You just explained why Europeans have a lot more motivation to install it than Americans do, yet you immediately jump to laziness as an explanation for why Americans aren't as eager to adopt an app they have little reason to care about.
  Your attempt to criticize Americans is very...what's the word...oh yeah, lazy.
  
  Who did say that apple fanboys are only Americans? 🌚
  
  Damn, -3 and I didn’t even forget "/s", what have I done wrong xD
  
  No other country offered unlimited texting back in the day.
- No. But we have the same reliance now on WhatsApp as the US does with iMessage.
  I'd love to see RCS become the norm so I can ditch WhatsApp.
- deleted
  
  Ted Lasso? That TV series created by check notes Apple?
  
  deleted
  
  It’s WhatsApp through and through.

204 comments