[distantsounds]

Brilliant? Launching an app for creating events that requires you to 1) own an iDevice and 2) pay into, just to create events?

I'll send an email for free, thankyouverymuch.

[stronglikedan]

This obviously offers more than just sending an email. And since the majority of Apple users aren't very tech savvy, I can see this catching on quickly.

[blueelephanttea]

> 1) own an iDevice

You do not need to own an Apple device to either create events or join events.

> I'll send an email for free, thankyouverymuch.

This seems fine! There are open protocols (email, ics) if they work for you, but Apple specifically developed this in a way to neither require an Apple device or Apple Account to interact. Which is better than some of the competitors! (Facebook and Google tend to create social tools which explicitly require everyone to have accounts.)

[matsemann]

> You do not need to own an Apple device to either create events

You need an "iCloud+" account to create, though. Which I as a non-apple user have no idea what is, and probably is useless for me to pay for not using anything apple beforehand.

[pphysch]

The first line of their press release:

> Apple today introduced Apple Invites, a new app for iPhone

If Android users have to login to a website to use this, what's the appeal? There are hundreds of simple meeting/event webapps out there, many not even requiring authentication.

[tail_exchange]

Likely doesn't need to be said, but if you are organizing parties with emails, you're probably not the target user base of this feature.

For the younger folks who organize their parties by texting (iMessages, Whatsapp, Telefram, etc), this can be enticing.

[sylens]

While I agree with your points in principle, the paywall may act as a way for them to handle spam/misuse more effectively