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what relevance does a messenger have.. when it s not able to communicate with 80 percent of mobile users?
iMessage could be the next big thing for apple.. if released as a multiplatform app.. like iTunes

You can make money off iTunes and the store, iMessage is hard to monetize.
 
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This is a huge disappointment for me. I like iMessage but I never get to use it. Family uses Hangouts. Friends use Hangouts. Not that I dislike Hangouts, just I like iMessage. I can see why they wouldn't spend the $/resources on something that wouldn't make them $. Would be nice to use something that isn't mining the $*!# out of my conversations - and, after 1,000 photos in the group Hangout, it's impossible to find the latest photos in a group chat on Hangouts. We have some Android users in the family and group texts have been disastrous (why we use Hangouts). Hangouts is also cross platform - why is this so rare today???
 
Anyone who buys an iPhone just for iMessage is someone who doesn't deserve to use any technology. It's beyond comprehension why Apple would use resources to enhance something so banal and useless such as an instant messaging app instead of fabricating real features like the ability to force quit all apps at once. Priorities, Apple. Get them straight.

This comment is peak MacRumors.
 
You can communicate with 100% of mobile users since it has a fallback to SMS.

I've never thought "OMG I can't message this person since they don't have an iPhone"
What I really want is something that'll fall back to Facebook and everything else. An app that sends a message with every freaking service there is since there are so many nowadays.
 
Apple considers its own user base of 1 billion active devices to provide a large enough data set for any possible AI learning the company is working on.

Holy crap!

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And, second, having a superior messaging platform that only worked on Apple devices would help sales of those devices

Wrong, wrong, wrong... Apple could limit some iMessage features on Android if it's so scared or sell it for $1 per year. Messaging is huge, bringing iMessage to Android would help Apple get much more attention and boost sales in China alone. Apple would win much more than it could possibly lose.

Even Google has its own crossplatform messenger now. Microsoft brings its apps and features like Cortana to all platforms.
Until Apple releases iMessage on Android it will always be in the shadow of WhatsApp, WeChat and others.

iMessage shouldn't be a "locker" feature of the iPhone, it should be one of the best and most attracting features among many other cool features. iMessage app could be a great free interactive ad for Apple installed on billions of other devices worldwide.
 
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That's fine. As an Android user, I find Skype vastly superior for both Video chat and messaging. But like most Americans, I use standard SMS 99% of the time.
ALSO, people here in the USA are pretty dumb when it comes to messaging in general. They all have unlimited texting (which is pretty impossible not to have even on prepaid plans) but use iMessage which counts against their data caps just so they can see the three little dots when people type.

EDIT: Google Hangouts is also great for messaging, but like I said before, most people just use SMS.
They can send/receive on a computer, tablet, and other device without having to set up SMS forwarding, which most people don't have. They can send/receive where there's no cell service, AKA everywhere in my house. Group chats are actually doable in iMessage (and Android specifically screws up SMS group texts even more). The data usage is negligible.

Skype is a PoS, but it has the unique property of actually working on Berkeley's ghetto Internet connection, so I use it.
 
I'm satisfied.
i am happy for you...
i want to be happy with apple too..
have been using the iPhone from the beginning since 2007..

but....

i would love to communicatie with my friends on android using iMessage..and i am sure.. my android friends would drop whatsapp .. and use iMessage for android too.. they don't trust Facebook and whatsapp..
 
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Apple are loosing out. No matter how great iMessage is, if nobody uses it then it's going to suffer. iMessage doesn't unify everyone. Whatsapp does and personally, I get more whatsapp messages than iMessage. I do love iMessage but the whole point is *messaging* people. There's always one in a group conversation that doesn't have an iphone so we default to using whatsapp so we can communicate. I think it's a bad move for Apple not opening this up before it's too late and Apple won't be able to dominate the messaging market.

This plus iMessage isn't completely ironed out yet with multiple groups made of of the same people appearing on iPhones for everybody I know
 
They can send/receive on a computer, tablet, and other device without having to set up SMS forwarding, which most people don't have. They can send/receive where there's no cell service, AKA everywhere in my house. Group chats are actually doable in iMessage (and Android specifically screws up SMS group texts even more). The data usage is negligible.

Skype is a PoS, but it has the unique property of actually working on Berkeley's ghetto Internet connection, so I use it.

iMessage is only available on OSX/iOS products. Skype is available EVERYWHERE. Mac, PC, iOS, Android, Linux, Xbox, and even wearables. I can use it anywhere.
 
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