←back to thread

WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

(www.nytimes.com)
713 points greenburger | 6 comments | 16 Jun 25 13:38 UTC | HN request time: 1.074s | source | bottom
Show context
elric ◴[17 Jun 25 09:16 UTC] No.44297158[source]▶
Can we get a federated messenger already?

Sure, we have email, but the MS/Google duopoloy has effectively unfederated that, with their inscrutable block lists and nonexistent appeals processes, allegedly in order to protect you from spam.

Sure, XMPP is a thing, which has been mostly dead for well over a decade.

Sure, Matrix is a thing, but every time I look at it, all I see is criticism of its specifications and poor interoperability between implementations?

What would it take to sort out this mess? More money for Matrix or XMPP? Someone with enough clout to promote them? I'm sure organizations like the UN or the EU would, in theory, be in favour of an effective global communicator. But those same organizations would like rail against encryption and decentralisation.

replies(15): >>44297189 #>>44297257 #>>44297370 #>>44297456 #>>44297512 #>>44297638 #>>44297663 #>>44297773 #>>44298202 #>>44298229 #>>44298399 #>>44301100 #>>44301256 #>>44301264 #>>44349726 #
elAhmo ◴[17 Jun 25 12:16 UTC] No.44298202[source]▶
What about SMS?
replies(1): >>44299889 #
1. pfortuny ◴[17 Jun 25 14:43 UTC] No.44299889[source]▶
They cost around 0.15€/message in Spain.
replies(1): >>44301291 #
2. kjkjadksj ◴[17 Jun 25 17:04 UTC] No.44301291[source]▶
No deals sending to the same carrier? That is how it initially was in the US. Some of us had unlimited plans but others had like 400 texts a month paying a rate after, but no quota for texts within the carrier network.
replies(2): >>44303876 #>>44335138 #
3. hocuspocus ◴[17 Jun 25 20:57 UTC] No.44303876[source]▶
The issue with SMS even if unlimited, in Europe a lot of people need to send text messages across borders. EU mandated free roaming, which makes SMS billing under the same pricing conditions when you're roaming but doesn't say anything about sending SMS abroad when you're in your home country. Also what happens if you need to send an SMS to a Swiss or UK number?

While effectively unlimited plans do exist as carriers have stopped caring in multiple countries, this kind of friction pushed everyone to WhatsApp 15 years ago and most people won't bother checking what's included in their plan. Remember they're very cheap compared to the US, I know people paying 5€/month.

Additionally there's also the immigrant population that need to communicate with their relatives back home on other continents.

replies(1): >>44312254 #
4. kjkjadksj ◴[18 Jun 25 18:35 UTC] No.44312254{3}[source]▶
I’m surprised there wasn’t competition to deliver a better product from the telecoms. That is how we got unlimited texting and the early unlimited data plans in the US. Carrier arms race. They sure would have liked to nickel and dime but saw competition as more valuable.
replies(1): >>44314192 #
5. hocuspocus ◴[18 Jun 25 23:41 UTC] No.44314192{4}[source]▶
RCS should have been that, but WhatsApp came out in 2009 and by 2010/2011 it was already game over in most of the world once cheaper Android smartphones became broadly available. At this point carriers' focus had shifted to data and the most pressing issue was starting the 4G rollout.

No wonder Google eventually took the RCS matter in their own hands, there was way too little incentive otherwise.

6. pfortuny ◴[21 Jun 25 06:44 UTC] No.44335138[source]▶
Sorry for the late reply: not that I know of. Just a scam...