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  • 馃挰 WhatsApp is overrated. Where is the future of messaging?

    Ma毛l Harnois
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    WhatsApp has 2b + users. So I realised using this messaging application could be a way to convey AI to `the mass`. So I created an AI bot on WhatsApp, integrating many AIs (text, speech, image). In the meantime, started looking at what was existing on Telegram. And there were some interesting existing products, not gonna lie. I then started asking to the everybody I met, "why do you use WhatsApp" - the answer is simple: "because everybody uses it" 馃憖 Some quick feedbacks and objective facts, mainly for a business / maker POV: 馃帹 1. UX. WhatsApp = Windows 95 Telegram = macOS Ventura (ok, this one is definitely subjective 馃槀) 馃挵2. Costs for businesses. 路 WhatsApp's costs between $0.0055 (Colombia) to $0.07 (France & Germany) / day / user depending on the country. That's a max of $2.1 / month . 路 Telegram is free. 馃挸 3. Payments. 路 Telegram integrates Stripe and many other payment providers, for one of the smoothest in-app experience I've since for integrating external payment providers. 路 WhatsApp started to do so w/ two countries (Brazil and Singapore). But it's still Windows 95 (馃槀) 馃捇 4. Dev flexibility. 路 Telegram is built for both users and makers. You can create a bot very quickly, and the customisation is insane. 路 WhatsApp: quite a hustle to get started, if you don't use an integrating platform like Twilio etc. Plus you can reach quickly usage limits (my second bot has been ban in 16 hours being flagged as `Spam` while users were interacting with ChatGPT through it, then took me 8 days to get unbanned). In a personal use POV, both the app could be considered as similar, it could be interesting to compare the calls & video calls quality etc, but for its basic purpose, well, you can send messages. It feels like Telegram is moving a bit toward AI and provide more diverse experiences to users, proposing quick translation for messages, or even audio transcriptions for voice notes, still the result is not so good when not Russian or Ukrainian language from what I have experienced. But it's a beginning. My point is definitely not to fuss about WhatsApp nor to prone Telegram. I'm trying to take a step back and show that there might be alternatives, it feels like all the messaging app are still using basic techs from 8 years ago. There are some interesting features like instant translation, instant audio transcription, and even other AI stuff that could be directly integrated in it. If you take Asian delivery / riding services like Gojek (Indonesia), you can speak your own language within the app (ex: German), and the driver as well (ex: Indonesian), facilitating so much the communication. Since I've discovered these kind of things witnessing all the tech improvements, I'm wondering what are the big players doing. Maybe time for some kind of renewal? Having some new actors in this sector? Like TikTok arrived on the social medias, messaging app might need its new spearhead. I've recently discovered https://roze.im, French startup going into Messaging apps, integrating some AI in it. I'm sure there are some hidden gems out there. What emerging actors have you heard of? What do you think of the current players? Looking forward to read your thoughts and discover new projects on this subject 鉁岋笍
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