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Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

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598 points josephcsible | 1 comments | 13 Oct 25 15:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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itg ◴[13 Oct 25 16:13 UTC] No.45570037[source]▶
Installing any app I want outside the Play Store was the primary reason I decided to go with Android, despite most of the people I know using iPhones. If I can't do this anymore, I may as well switch and be able to use iMessage and FaceTime with them.
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jamesnorden ◴[13 Oct 25 19:27 UTC] No.45572346[source]▶
>I may as well switch and be able to use iMessage and FaceTime with them

I, too, love vendor lockin.

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vivalahn ◴[13 Oct 25 19:28 UTC] No.45572360[source]▶
Another road that leads to BBM it seems.

It’s utterly bizarre how BBM could have been the iMessage and WhatsApp and who knows what else. But rich out-of-touch people thinking exclusivity is a perk in a commodities market just shows how business savvy and wealth are in reality disconnected from eachother.

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1. j45 ◴[13 Oct 25 22:09 UTC] No.45573853[source]▶
BBM was the iMessage and WhatsApp before either of those.

WhatsApp became popular specifically because it was a multi-platform replacement for BBM.

BBM had little else to offer in terms of apps. It was a corporate ecosystem and good at that part of it.

iMessage also came out after BBM, and did their own device lock in, except iPhones were designed for the many instead of the few, especially beginners to smartphones.