14 DAY TRIAL // WhatsApp already has big issues with the Windows Phone application, which has been missing from the store for about two weeks, but that didn’t stop the company’s CEO from expressing his discontent at some of the things that Apple announced during WWDC14.
According to Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s co-founder, some of the newest features announced by Apple for iMessage have been strongly inspired by his application.
Although he wasn’t too specific on the features in question, he was pretty ironic when saying that it was “very flattering to see Apple ‘borrow’ numerous WhatsApp features into iMessage in iOS 8.”
We have already gotten used to rivals trolling each other during launch events, but this time, WhatsApp’s CEO is absolutely right when he says that Apple has borrowed some of the features from his application for its own iMessage.
Moreover, WhatsApp is not the only application that Apple took something from in terms of features. Snapchat and Facebook should have probably tweeted similar remarks, as iMessage now includes some of the features that are already available in their instant messaging apps.
very flattering to see Apple "borrow" numerous WhatsApp features into iMessage in iOS 8 #innovation
— jan koum (@jankoum) June 2, 2014
Well, this feature is now available in iMessage as well, along with location sharingl. But there’s more to it. Every time you receive a video message through iMessage, you get the option to save it, otherwise it will delete itself.
For those unaware, this is one of the major features that Snapchat likes to brag about. Unfortunately, this is not all, as Apple seemed to have turned to Facebook Messenger and borrowed some things from that IM as well.
All in all, while it’s not a bad thing that Apple has improved its iMessage a lot, it’s a bit unusual for the Cupertino-based company to add so many “borrowed” features from third-party apps. Hopefully, Apple will come up with innovative features in the not so distant future.