Why I finally chose Ping over Whatsapp…

Ok, So I downloaded Whatsapp. Why not, afterall its free (for a limited time).

Unlike Ping, it doesn’t require you to create an ID. However, you will have to input your mobile phone number. And that, supposedly, is where the complication begins. Ironic, since, Whatsapp is supposed to make my life easier by not needing to create IDs and informing all my friends and then getting their IDs, etc. The premise of Whatsapp is that as long as your friend has installed Whatsapp in their iPhone, their name will appear on your contact list. No need for approvals and exchanging of IDs.

Seems easy, right?

That is, until I noticed a little caveat in the FAQ: “Make sure their mobile phone number is labeled as “Mobile” in your address book and that their phone number is saved in a full international format starting with a + sign.

Uh oh.

This means that I now have to go into my Address Book and reconfigure all the phone numbers so that it complies with Whatsapp’s “automatic” detection settings. I have over 500 contacts in my phone. Few of them are saved with a “+” — maybe I’m the rarity, so this is probably not a deal breaker for the rest of you, but for me it is. I am going to put in a lot of time and effort in order for this so called “automatic” detection to work. Granted, not everybody in my Address Book owns an iPhone, but I’d still have to edit their contact information just in case they do get one, right? Otherwise, they won’t appear automatically in my Whatsapp contact list. Too much work. No thanks.

Another deal breaker for me is that Whatsapp is currently not supported in Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Thailand. And guess what, those happen to be the countries that many Singaporeans work and vacation in. Not to mention the number of Malaysians, Indians, Indonesians and Thais that come here to work.

In the end, Whatsapp and Ping may seem like competitors, but much like Mac and PCs, they both have their camps of supporters who like each application for the unique set of features they bring to the social networking arena.

I really hope Ping doesn’t try to be a Whatsapp because that would take away what I love about Ping:  its simplicity. No status messages. No trying to be another chat application.

So for now, Ping is my primary iPhone-to-iPhone messaging application, considering how I currently have NO Whatsapp contacts. And as long as I don’t edit my 500 contacts to include the + sign, it looks like I won’t have any in the near future.

I’ll still keep Whatsapp anyway. So that the Whatsapp fans in my Address Book can connect with me. If you’re willing to pay 99cents for that advantage, why not? I wasn’t, so I’m glad I caught this when it is still free.

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Related posts: Ping — iPhone’s answer to BlackBerry Messenger?