I saved this post a few weeks ago, and only just got around to reading it:

iMessage apps are different. They appropriate functionality, which lives elsewhere outside of iMessage, and place it right in the conversation with you. For a while, I figured “why not just open that app and tap a share or copy link?” But tinkering with two iMessage apps helped things click for me: Pocket and Fandango.

They remove friction from switching apps to grab content, a link, or even functionality, and keep that stuff right there with me and my friends. There’s something useful about not having to break away from a conversation to go get this stuff.

Ironically, I was reading the post in one of the apps mentioned: Pocket. (You can follow my recommends there, if you like.)

The things that struck me about this wasn’t the utility of apps within messaging apps – it’s how long it’s taken the western world to catch on to them. We’ve been talking about messaging apps becoming the hub of the internet experience in Asia at NEXT for the past couple of conferences, at the very least.

Slowly, the world is catching on…