Sure, but pricing was the main driver. There doesn’t seem to be readily available historical pricing data but even as late as 2018 the price of SMS in Europe seemed to be €0.07-0.11 per message. Which means it was even more expensive back in the early 2010s when WhatsApp and others were beginning to take off. For the US the price per message is and has been $0. I think the extra features were ultimately just a bonus when compared to being able to send messages for free. The fact the US still hasn’t switched is proof enough that it being a better experience is not enough to compel people to change off of the default. Money is a huge motivator.
Since at least 15 years ago, a ton of SMS were included in the contract or add-on packages for your phone, and data were much more expensive comparatively. In my country specifically, unlimited data has only been a thing for 1-2 years, and we have cheap data for less than 5-7 years. But we always had something like 1.500 SMS included in even the cheapest contracts for 10+ years
They didn’t take off just because SMS was expensive, but because they offer a much better experience with many more features
Sure, but pricing was the main driver. There doesn’t seem to be readily available historical pricing data but even as late as 2018 the price of SMS in Europe seemed to be €0.07-0.11 per message. Which means it was even more expensive back in the early 2010s when WhatsApp and others were beginning to take off. For the US the price per message is and has been $0. I think the extra features were ultimately just a bonus when compared to being able to send messages for free. The fact the US still hasn’t switched is proof enough that it being a better experience is not enough to compel people to change off of the default. Money is a huge motivator.
Since at least 15 years ago, a ton of SMS were included in the contract or add-on packages for your phone, and data were much more expensive comparatively. In my country specifically, unlimited data has only been a thing for 1-2 years, and we have cheap data for less than 5-7 years. But we always had something like 1.500 SMS included in even the cheapest contracts for 10+ years