iMessage Brings Texting to iPod Touch and iPad Users

[jtara]

I don't see this going very far unless Apple makes this an open standard. This is one of those technologies that needs to be universal to be a success. I think this is one of the reasons why Facetime really hasn't taken off. The huge advantage that SMS has is that everybody has it. Sure, Apple is doing a bit of mitigation by transparently routing whichever way works, but if they want to take over the messaging space, they need to open it up.

I think Mark Zuckerberg has been doing some sword-rattling about IM replacing email. But the public seems to have largely abandoned IM. There are too many providers and applications too many of which only partially implement standards, it's too techy for most people to set up, presence and delivery are often unreliable. But I agree there needs to be a new universal infrastructure, and it needs to encompass the current use cases for email, IM, chat rooms (remember those?) and SMS.

I'm reluctantly launching a service and app in an unaddressed niche of this space. Reluctantly, because I realize that my solution isn't going to be universal (though I'm planning iOS and Android apps as well as web access). But I'm going to keep a watch for any universal standard that emerges and adapt as necessary.

 

[KylePowers]

While I can see it'd be useful to know if someone has read your message or if they're currently typing one (those are the only technological advances, correct?), I really don't think it's that big of a deal.

I don't think I've ever had the dire need to know if someone's read my text (or at least, not frequently). Typically a response allows me to assume they've read my text (most polite people tend to respond from my experience). And knowing if someone's in the midst of replying? I mean, yeah, I thought that was a great advantage on AIM 4 years ago, but conversations on a computer tend to go much more quickly than texting on a phone. I don't think society is yet to the point where interrupting someone with a text while they're replying to your last one warrants some sort of negative societal judgement. It's not like being in public with someone and consistently interrupting them while they speak to you or another person, ya' know?

I am however delighted about the fact I can use my iPad to text people. Though, it seems as if it only supports iMessages, and not the general Messages app... so this is a moot point for me, seeing as how the top 3 people I text (girlfriend, and two best friends) all have phones that lack the little Apple symbol.

My mom has an iPhone... so I guess I could delightfully text her for free? Despite us being on the same family plan and AT&T-to-AT&T text messages already being free (aren't they? I know Verizon does that).

What I wanted to see most from an upgrade to the Messages app was a quick reply option similar to BiteSMS. I don't believe I saw anything like this, so this probably upsets me the most, as it's definitely the number one thing I use on my iPhone. It's such a hassle to switch apps just to spend 3 seconds replying to a text. Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[lars666]

Two quick questions to all the iOS 5 beta testers out there:

1. Does iMessage on the iPod Touch/iPad allow to choose any email address you want as "contact/delivery address" (like Facetime) or are you stuck to the email address which is your Apple ID?

2. Once you've signed in/verified for "iMessage" with your Apple ID, can you change to another account e.g. on the App/Music Store on your iPod Touch/iPad without being "logged out" for iMessages? I guess these two things don't get in each others way, do they? (no problem with Facetime, too)

Thanks a lot in advance for your info!!

EDIT: Already answered in another thread. Seems like everything work fine with other email addresses.

 

[03jcrhr]

Hi

This is my first post so go easy on me

My main concern about iMessage is texting people who have iPod touches and iPads. If the phone can recognise these devices as being registered to someone on you contact list who has a non iOS phone surely it will send the message to the iOS device rather than the phone. I can see this leading to many cases of people waiting for text replies on their phone that never come as they do not check their iPad/iPod for texts??

I hope I made that clear

 

[justinfreid]

Haha, no, it's a myth, spread by our government's Ministry of Information. In truth, Canadians are probably the biggest ******s on the planet.



Anyway, I couldn't get any of the Google suggestions to work in Canada. Then again, maybe I suck at Google. So I'll be sending you a PM.

No problem.
Canadians are more like eh-holes I think.

 

[jtara]

I don't see this going very far unless Apple makes this an open standard.

Aha. Turns out they are using an open standard. (XMPP PubSub). (Same one I'm planning on using.) Apparently they already use this for notifications, iChat, and FaceTime.

So, if they do make it a closed universe, it's only because they've done so administratively.

They certainly haven't emphasized that they are using an open standard under the hood. In fact, they seem to have quite consciously tried to lead the public to believe the opposite.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

(I'm a registered iOS developer. I haven't downloaded iOS 5, the development tools, or looked at any of the documentation covered by NDA yet. So, my information is based on blogs I've come across that have discussed the technology is some detail. Had to get that disclaimer out...)

 

[Mr Bigs]

Apple keeps missing the mark as far as what I want. I would like to get texts & phone calls on my iPad when the iPhone is charging and be able to reply to all. The HP TouchPad is the only pad that has this feature.

 

[vmstech24]

I am really looking forward to this; where I work this will be an invaluable tool for all the iOS devices that is far superior to the email system that we currently use.

 

[mconk]

Actually, iOS does this for you...when sending an SMS it automatically checks to see if the recipient is running iOS 5. If they are, the SMS turns into an iMessage automatically. Pretty clever...you won't have to bother asking for friends Apple ID's.

I don't get the appeal of these type of apps. Great, so I have to now figure out which of my friends are currently using an iOS device. Meanwhile, use SMS and I know it reaches them no matter what device they are using.

 

[mconk]

Right, you've never had the *need*...neither did I when o bought my BlackBerry and starting using BBM frequently. You don't always NEED to now, but it certainly comes in handy at times, and on the same hand is nice to have delivery confirmation. The bigger picture here, is the character limit: none. Along with the ability to integrate your MMS/txts, location info, across multiple devices, all in one window...instantly...very convenient. If you done like this feature, disable it...however, like most things that people judge before seeing or using, I can almost guarantee you'll find it useful, after trying hands on. It really just simplifies the conversation, drastically.

While I can see it'd be useful to know if someone has read your message or if they're currently typing one (those are the only technological advances, correct?), I really don't think it's that big of a deal.

I don't think I've ever had the dire need to know if someone's read my text (or at least, not frequently). Typically a response allows me to assume they've read my text (most polite people tend to respond from my experience). And knowing if someone's in the midst of replying? I mean, yeah, I thought that was a great advantage on AIM 4 years ago, but conversations on a computer tend to go much more quickly than texting on a phone. I don't think society is yet to the point where interrupting someone with a text while they're replying to your last one warrants some sort of negative societal judgement. It's not like being in public with someone and consistently interrupting them while they speak to you or another person, ya' know?

I am however delighted about the fact I can use my iPad to text people. Though, it seems as if it only supports iMessages, and not the general Messages app... so this is a moot point for me, seeing as how the top 3 people I text (girlfriend, and two best friends) all have phones that lack the little Apple symbol.

My mom has an iPhone... so I guess I could delightfully text her for free? Despite us being on the same family plan and AT&T-to-AT&T text messages already being free (aren't they? I know Verizon does that).

What I wanted to see most from an upgrade to the Messages app was a quick reply option similar to BiteSMS. I don't believe I saw anything like this, so this probably upsets me the most, as it's definitely the number one thing I use on my iPhone. It's such a hassle to switch apps just to spend 3 seconds replying to a text. Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[Jjaro]

Actually, text messages are much, much smaller. As an example, your message as quoted above is roughly 320 bytes (if counting the BBCodes), twice the maximum allowed for SMS.

1000 "text" messages (SMS, 160 characters max) for 10$ = 0.01$ per message
6 250 000 "data" messages (one gigabyte diveded by 160 characters messages) for 10$ = 0.0000016$ per message

Via SMS: 1 cent equals one message.
Via data: 1 cent equals 6250 messages.[/QUOTE/]

Daaaaaamn! I had no idea. Well I guess I'm not surprised by this, lol. These companies are businesses after all.

 

[Bariwasmypart]

Multiple Notifications?

My only question remains when I get a text message on say my iphone is it automatically forwarder to my Ipad and Ipod Touch because if so three alerts for one text message would be highly excessive. Though the old I didn't get your text trick would be very hard to side step

 

[ballpark1313]

Multiple devices with one apple id

So does anyone know how this is going to work with multiple people using the same apple id?

Myself, my wife, and my son all use the same apple id. Will we each be able to have our own imessage or will it all be on one. Does it work similar to FaceTime?

 

[DarthRandom]

So does anyone know how this is going to work with multiple people using the same apple id?

Myself, my wife, and my son all use the same apple id. Will we each be able to have our own imessage or will it all be on one. Does it work similar to FaceTime?

I would like to know as well, I hope we can use a different email to sync with iCloud and iMessage

 

[toolbox]

I welcome this but will still have to keep WhatsApp for my friend in Germany to get free texting to him

Yes! Exactly what i use Whats app for

 

[urbanj]

So does anyone know how this is going to work with multiple people using the same apple id?

Myself, my wife, and my son all use the same apple id. Will we each be able to have our own imessage or will it all be on one. Does it work similar to FaceTime?

I would like to know as well, I hope we can use a different email to sync with iCloud and iMessage

I haven't tried but when you go under the messages settings you can click "receive at" and then add another email. All this is done under the same apple ID. So I'd assume you can load it up on different devices and then have each person enter their own "receive at" email. I could be wrong though