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WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

(www.nytimes.com)
713 points greenburger | 4 comments | 16 Jun 25 13:38 UTC | HN request time: 1.92s | source
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perks_12 ◴[16 Jun 25 14:18 UTC] No.44289749[source]▶
WhatsApp has S-tier status here in Germany. If I had access to a proper API I would pay them per message, without them needing to make their UX worse. If anything, if I had to pay per message, I'd be incentivized not to send too many messages, keeping the distractions for the user at a minimum.
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timeon ◴[16 Jun 25 15:05 UTC] No.44290299[source]▶
> If anything, if I had to pay per message, I'd be incentivized not to send too many messages

Sounds like SMS.

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Kwpolska ◴[16 Jun 25 20:35 UTC] No.44293169[source]▶
Except not limited to 160 characters (70 if you want Unicode) and with rich media capabilities.
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1. stonogo ◴[16 Jun 25 20:49 UTC] No.44293262[source]▶
So... MMS, then?
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2. djtango ◴[16 Jun 25 21:56 UTC] No.44293767[source]▶
Why did MMS feel so janky back in the day?

Was it a client thing or a protocol thing?

Whatsapp felt so responsive back in the day. I'd be pinging my family in real time halfway across the globe on mobile in 2009. For Free. That was a killer app...

Why did MMS fail where Whatsapp succeeded?

3. jeroenhd ◴[16 Jun 25 23:09 UTC] No.44294204[source]▶
MMS has terrible limitations, in both file size and media resolution.

RCS has replaced MMS as a protocol back in 2008 and it's only now gaining traction. Many carriers have shut down their RCS infrastructure half a decade ago, though, so they're not exactly jumping on the chance to turn it back on.

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4. magicalhippo ◴[17 Jun 25 01:41 UTC] No.44294988[source]▶
I enabled RCS on my Samsung S21, but had to disable it after a day or two. It just didn't work reliably.

But yea MMS sucks, would be nice with some common cross-platform alternative that worked well.