Bots are broken as a platform. No advertising, no payments system, developers have to pay for hosting, there's no discovery mechanism because the messengers don't have bot stores... Why would developers be interested?
I don't understand the discovery comment. I don't discover Bob the copier salesman. I decide I need a copier, search for copier retailers and then give Bob a call. Won't bots work the same way?
You don't have to discover how to call Bob, which is analogous to finding the bot. But you may need to discover what jargon to use with Bob to make sure you get what you want.
Depends on which vision wins out. The phone handset vendors certainly have a leg up on being the "discovery" part, deciding which copier retailers you get exposed to.
I'm not trying to convince you otherwise, but I honestly believe you're missing the point. Bots will triumph not because of technical reasons, but rather because they are what people want. If you let me a self-plug, here's a detailed explanation I wrote a few days ago, I'd love to know what you think after reading it: http://cfenollosa.com/blog/bots-lack-metaphors-and-that-is-t...
As I understand it, bots have been really successful in Asia. The messaging platforms did add payment ability for the bots, and it doesn't require users to install a new app.
There also are bot stores on some messaging apps. I know Skype just added one. And facebook and telegram were giving out grants for users to develop interesting bots on their platforms.
