Apple Invites

I really hope this fails.

Apple will use it's dominant position to create lock in like how they did with iMessage instead of cooperating with other platforms on a common standard.

Oder friends and family are surprised when they want to video call over Facetime and find it hard to believe other people's phones don't have Apple apps.

But isn’t that the same when people and schools create effing Facebook groups and events or whatever they are called and find it hard to believe that people don’t use that crap. Or create WhatsApp groups and communities and so on and on.

Yes, but at least those don't have hardware lock-in.

WhatsApp absolutely has hardware lock-in. You need to be an Apple or Google customer to use it, and you need at least one Android or iOS phone.

What's worse, and what people gloss over, is that you have to sync your contacts to Facebook/Meta in order to use WhatsApp. That's a lot of very private information that tells them a lot about you. There is a reason why Facebook paid bajillions for WhatsApp and maintains it, even though the communication is encrypted and there are no ads — it's not out of the goodness of their noble hearts.

But try telling this to anyone and watch their eyes glaze over in a matter of seconds.