[esolyt]

There is no indication they haven't read the article.

This product, much like iMessage and others, provides an inferior experience to non-Apple users. It aims to make other devices and operating systems look less capable and cheap.

iMessage also partially works with other phones. This doesn't change the fact that its intention is to create a lock-in effect, as evidenced by internal Apple emails.

[sharpshadow]

I would rather join an Apple Invite Group than a WhatsApp Group.

If they now make it possible to invite people in your radius they even get a share of dating apps.

[fsflover]

How about a Matrix group? https://matrix.org

[pinoy420]

Why is this a problem?

Typical HN downvoting because of “muh vendor lockin” without giving an answer as to why exactly this matters for the general population.

It is a fantastic business model.

[abenga]

Because we want to interact with our friends and family without being forced to switch platforms. I don't care about Apple's business model.

[adrr]

How so? It just sends a link either in a message or email. Acceptance is done via a web page. How do online invitations ensure vendor lock in? What will prevent me from using another online invite system in the future? I’ve used a bunch in past like evite, paperless post and the cost to switch is nothing.

[onion2k]

Two of the features of Invites are sharing photos and sharing music. These are both locked down to users of Apple services (Photos and Music). So you can invite anyone, but those people won't be able to fully participate in your event.

There's nothing really wrong with Invites if you're happy to only have photos from people with iPhones or to let the music be exclusively chosen by Apple users, but you can't pretend it's a fair and equal system.

[ejoso]

It is a degraded experience. Not as smooth as being on iOS. It’s a common playbook used by Apple (as well as MS and others) in an attempt to get and retain users.