Hacker News Reader

Comment by edmundsauto | Hacker News Reader

What makes you think that Google is the big competitor to Messages in the US, rather than FB Messenger? I know more (non-tech audience) people who use FB Messenger than any of the google products. Does Google default to Hangouts messages when using an android phone, if the recipient also has an Android (vs. straight MMS)?

Personally, I use Apple's Messages, but that's because it's installed by default and integrated with SMS. It's basically just enhanced MMS, so a really really easy transition.

View on HN

> Does Google default to Hangouts messages when using an android phone, if the recipient also has an Android (vs. straight MMS)?

No. Google does not integrate their messaging solution with SMS. The real reason behind that is that Google doesn't want to piss off the carriers who still see messaging (iMessage excluded) as a source of revenue.

This is the reasoning for RCS, unfortunately. They could have implemented it everywhere a long time ago but wait for carrier support

Interesting. What is it about Google's position that makes them not want to piss off the carriers? Apple seems to take consumer friendly, anti-carrier positions -- no-lock SIM, iMessages the default.

What do you think makes Google different? Is it because they partner more closely on handsets?

In which countries is messaging still a revenue source? In the UK you usually get unlimited SMS mesages on even the cheapest plans... (and everyone is using whatsapp or facebook messenger anyway, which is probably why)

You realize hangouts supported SMS previously and they removed the functionality to try to get people to use Allo, right?

...and Allo is gone to make room for the carrier implemented RCS.

Agreed, in Australia facebook prety much has a 95% monopoly on messaging, with iMessage a distant second. I haven't even heard of anyone using a Google product for messaging, just a few isolated instances of someone using Viber or Whatsapp (but nothing like how popular it is in Europe).

The primary advantage Facebook has, I believe, other than that everyone is already using it, is that you can find someone on it later without having to ask them for contact details.

Nobody would pay for a messaging service. Even if you would, it wouldn't matter, your non-tech-industry friends wouldn't.

For a different data point from an Australian resident—most people I know use iMessage or Whatsapp. Few people seem to use Facebook Messenger, the only person I know who uses it does so to communicate with one other person.

Interestingly, I don't know a single person who uses FB Messenger. Plenty who use FB, just not messenger. It's SMS, iMessage or WhatsApp.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com