fne8w2ahGoogle's messaging mess continues: Chat app now wants to be the next WhatsApp
Many have tried, many have failed.
You simply need a killer feature to get people to change.
whatsapp's killer feature was "no killer features, just a messaging app with number-bound IDs and good UI". for anything like that I'd change, but the minute they add something like numberless IDs, or stickers, or a social media feature, they can fuck right off.
WhatsApps main "killer feature" was being early in the market to quickly reach a critical user mass.
Doesn't matter which competitor, people will install an alternative, see that only 5-10% of their contacts have it and will immediately uninstall.
I see potential in preinstalled messaging apps. But it needs to be cross-compatible between iOS and Android. Otherwise it won't fly.