The battle of the messaging giants has begun as WhatsApp takes on iMessage in the US. For many Americans, Apple’s blue-bubble texts have made messaging pretty tribal.
Due to the blue bubbles that contain texts when interacting with fellow iPhone users, iPhone users feel a sense of comfort – or superiority, depending on your perspective.
While iPhone users are told they are dealing with a non-Apple person when they text anyone else, green bubbles appear when they text anyone else. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, almost 80% of Gen Z consumers prefer iPhones over Android devices in the US.
Apple has aggressively defended its blue-green split, even going so far as to shoot down an Android app in December that allowed users to hide their messages in blue bubbles.
However, Mark Zuckerberg may have a plan to burst those bubbles.
The Meta CEO leads an empire of social media apps that are familiar to many Americans. After all, Facebook and Instagram dominate Americans’ screen time.
WhatsApp, however, isn’t as popular in the US as Meta.
Having purchased the instant messaging app for $19 billion in 2014, Facebook has turned it into a global phenomenon.
The next chapter-WhatsApp iMessage
It is estimated that about 2 billion people around the world use the app, though most are outside the US. Zuckerberg hopes to change that.
He called WhatsApp Meta’s “next chapter” in an interview last year – a bold statement in a year dominated by AI and efficiency strategies.
Several clues have been offered by Zuckerberg about the “next chapter.”
Among the features WhatsApp is aiming to offer is the ability to link multiple devices together so employees can “respond to customer messages from anywhere.”.
Additionally, Meta provides brands like Chevrolet and Samsung with tools to reach customers, including ways to address questions without engaging live support and ways to place orders through its app.
The Big Technology newsletter first reported that WhatsApp’s daily business users jumped 80% in the US last year as a result of such features.
As internet users become increasingly sour on social media, the search for private spaces to interact with friends and relatives – like WhatsApp group chats – has only grown.
The channels-whatsApp imessage
With WhatsApp, you get the perks of social media without the publicity.
As an Instagram story update, WhatsApp introduced a “Channels” feature last year that lets users follow their favorite influencers and receive updates from a “broadcast.”
Though Apple offers a group chat feature on iMessage, users can only add up to 32 more people. On WhatsApp, a group can have more than 1,000 members.
Zuckerberg sure hopes this will convince people to leave their blue bubbles.
It will probably take some time before the metaverse proves successful, but “business messaging is probably going to be the next major pillar,” the Meta chief acknowledged in late 2022.In the US, he will push that hard.
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