I just wish Apple would make a web-based version of iMessage as part of the iCloud service. I doubt that by itself would cause people to leave iOS for Android if that is Apple's concern with actually porting it over, but as a compromise, it would be great for iOS users who have to use a Windows PC at work to still be able to access their chats.
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Apple's Rationale for Not Bringing iMessage to Android Revealed in Legal Documents
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Once it's ad-based, you're talking about privacy invasions. I also doubt Apple could ever compete with WhatsApp globally anyway. WhatsApp was always the best option in most countries, and sometimes the only one due to deals with ISPs*. Apple could try to force iMessage similarly, but it's too late, and iMessage isn't even better. Heck, it's worse than most cross-platform messaging apps. The only point of it is that it's default on iPhones.
* This tweet about Net Neutrality is coming from a politician, but it's actually true. I've seen ads like this in Mexico.
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It was FaceTime and some legal issue came up that prevented them from opening it up. I am sure it was also going to be open source, but again some patent or the like threw a spanner in the works.
I'm no fan of exclusivity and lock-in. But this sounds like a really moot point from Epic considering they themselves are paying developers for exclusivity on games to only be available within their own Epic Game Store on Windows.
It all becomes too much of a double standards situation for me when one company uses arguments about lock-in and exclusivity and how unfair it is for them when the very same company issues the same kind of tactics themselves when it benefits them.
I don't think a perfect world is possible achieve. How would that possibly work? Why would companies like Apple, Google, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony etc invest billions in R&D and whatnot if the world becomes a place where everything is forced to be "open". What incentive do companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have to make great gaming hardware and to invest tons of money into game developers if they can't make the game exclusive to their own platform?
I hate exclusivity from a consumer standpoint. Why do I have to be forced to play Bloodborne on a PS4/PS5 with subpar graphics and 30 FPS when I would much rather play it on my Windows PC with much better graphics and performance? Me a consumer hates it, but form a business standpoint it wouldn't make much sense to have it any other way.
And forcing it to be any different would pretty much de-value it all for the companies pushing progress resulting in progress becoming much slower.
I have a hard time understanding the overall value of iMessage. I use it myself, but strictly for scenarios where I have to text someone. For everything else I use direct messaging using Telegram. I much rather have text messaging using iMessage over SMS as it's much more preferable from a functionality, security and privacy point of view but when I'm using it I have no idea if my message will be going to a green or blue receiver on the other end of the conversation.
I would actually end up using iMessage a lot more if it was cross-platform. There is nothing Telegram really provides me that iMessage is lacking other than me being able to run the software on Windows machines making my life 10x easier.
It all becomes too much of a double standards situation for me when one company uses arguments about lock-in and exclusivity and how unfair it is for them when the very same company issues the same kind of tactics themselves when it benefits them.
I don't think a perfect world is possible achieve. How would that possibly work? Why would companies like Apple, Google, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony etc invest billions in R&D and whatnot if the world becomes a place where everything is forced to be "open". What incentive do companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have to make great gaming hardware and to invest tons of money into game developers if they can't make the game exclusive to their own platform?
I hate exclusivity from a consumer standpoint. Why do I have to be forced to play Bloodborne on a PS4/PS5 with subpar graphics and 30 FPS when I would much rather play it on my Windows PC with much better graphics and performance? Me a consumer hates it, but form a business standpoint it wouldn't make much sense to have it any other way.
And forcing it to be any different would pretty much de-value it all for the companies pushing progress resulting in progress becoming much slower.
I have a hard time understanding the overall value of iMessage. I use it myself, but strictly for scenarios where I have to text someone. For everything else I use direct messaging using Telegram. I much rather have text messaging using iMessage over SMS as it's much more preferable from a functionality, security and privacy point of view but when I'm using it I have no idea if my message will be going to a green or blue receiver on the other end of the conversation.
I would actually end up using iMessage a lot more if it was cross-platform. There is nothing Telegram really provides me that iMessage is lacking other than me being able to run the software on Windows machines making my life 10x easier.
Android people are notoriously less likely to buy apps. It has been proven many times.
Exactly. It's not about fairness, it's just about Epic trying to get their way.
”Everybody I know uses X therefore...”
Holy crap, how many people do you know to make these sweeping generalizations? I’ve got maybe a couple hundred contacts, of which a couple dozen I text regularly and I have no idea how many use iphones. Why not? Because it has no effect on my ability to communicate with them.
One to one texting? Check.
Group texting? Check.
Send pics and videos? Check.
What else am I missing? “Well you can’t send live memoji PIP reactions to streaming multi-group video messages!” or some such? Amazing how anyone can survive without those critical features. 😉 Seriously though, I’ve yet to have a communication problem due to platform. What important function is hamstrung by imessage not being ubiquitous? Clearly it must be something very important if it’s the basis for lawsuits and business models.
I realize in some countries they still charge per SMS as it used to be for me, so years ago my contacts in those countries suggested I get Whatsapp. Ok, no problem. I use that to text with them and then get back to life.
¯\_( ツ)_/¯
Holy crap, how many people do you know to make these sweeping generalizations? I’ve got maybe a couple hundred contacts, of which a couple dozen I text regularly and I have no idea how many use iphones. Why not? Because it has no effect on my ability to communicate with them.
One to one texting? Check.
Group texting? Check.
Send pics and videos? Check.
What else am I missing? “Well you can’t send live memoji PIP reactions to streaming multi-group video messages!” or some such? Amazing how anyone can survive without those critical features. 😉 Seriously though, I’ve yet to have a communication problem due to platform. What important function is hamstrung by imessage not being ubiquitous? Clearly it must be something very important if it’s the basis for lawsuits and business models.
I realize in some countries they still charge per SMS as it used to be for me, so years ago my contacts in those countries suggested I get Whatsapp. Ok, no problem. I use that to text with them and then get back to life.
¯\_( ツ)_/¯
There‘s a differentere between keeping your customer by offering the best product and keeping your customer by making it impossible to freely choose the device they want without having a harder time communicating with your children (which to me the quotes in the article sound like)…
End to End encryption without having to download a third party app and then try to convince your friends to download said app so you can talk to them without coming off as creepy trying to keep messages encrypted?
I’d say Apple is right here. If they licensed iMessage to android, LOTS of people would jump ship.
That lock-in debate may have been true once upon a time but these days it’s more of a sign of how out of touch Apple has become. Take for example the fact there is no iMessage client for PC. I know they want you to just buy Macs but there’s always going to be a massive amount of people who use iPhone + pc. For this reason I don’t use iMessage hardly at all and use WhatsApp or signal.
Same goes for the password manager on iPhone. They’ve done a great job bugging me wanting to select an auto generated password in safari and store it in keychain. But there’s no way to access that on the web or on pc/outside of their ecosystem etc so it’s useless. Add to the fact they’ve crippled their poor attempt at third party password manager integration whereby you can read passwords but not write them natively just trying to push you towards their solution.
Although I think epic and their lawsuits have no merit I think the points around iMessage are pertinent in that they really could do better at being interoperable with other things.
Same goes for the password manager on iPhone. They’ve done a great job bugging me wanting to select an auto generated password in safari and store it in keychain. But there’s no way to access that on the web or on pc/outside of their ecosystem etc so it’s useless. Add to the fact they’ve crippled their poor attempt at third party password manager integration whereby you can read passwords but not write them natively just trying to push you towards their solution.
Although I think epic and their lawsuits have no merit I think the points around iMessage are pertinent in that they really could do better at being interoperable with other things.
So it’s basically what we all suspected before: Apple was worried doing this would erode their market share. I mean that basically why Apple does anything they COULD do but choose not to, if we are being honest.
It sucks, but it makes business sense. God forbid Apple put overall user experience over market share, but no one should be surprised.
It sucks, but it makes business sense. God forbid Apple put overall user experience over market share, but no one should be surprised.
The echo-chamber nature of people's messaging choices is interesting isn't it? I only use X to text people therefore that must be what everyone else is doing?
My work phone now is an iPhone, and I used to use them personally. When my personal one came up for renewal I thought sod it, I'll try something else to see how the other half lived. Really thought the lack of iMessage would be a problem. So much so I installed an iMessage gateway on one of my servers.
Now? I don't really care about it, nor miss it at all. On the iPhone I have iMessage (obviously), WhatsApp and Signal. In terms of usage I'd say iMessage is probably the least used now mainly as I gravitate to ones I can use on all platforms.
It just isn't something I think or worry about, and it wasn't anything like the pain I thought it was going to be. Still have my work iPhone, but also an S21 Ultra - I'll not be replacing that with an iPhone unless the '13 is something special. The screen & battery life is just too good.
My work phone now is an iPhone, and I used to use them personally. When my personal one came up for renewal I thought sod it, I'll try something else to see how the other half lived. Really thought the lack of iMessage would be a problem. So much so I installed an iMessage gateway on one of my servers.
Now? I don't really care about it, nor miss it at all. On the iPhone I have iMessage (obviously), WhatsApp and Signal. In terms of usage I'd say iMessage is probably the least used now mainly as I gravitate to ones I can use on all platforms.
It just isn't something I think or worry about, and it wasn't anything like the pain I thought it was going to be. Still have my work iPhone, but also an S21 Ultra - I'll not be replacing that with an iPhone unless the '13 is something special. The screen & battery life is just too good.
So you're saying Apple should make iMessage cross-platform but make it better on iPhone, trying to draw people in. Fans might not think of that, but execs definitely have considered it. It's not a clear winner. Maybe they figured not enough people on the fence would care to stay on iPhones for iMessage integration, while not enough loyal Android users would want to use iMessage for Apple to gain much from them.
What's the revelation here? iMessage on iOs only is a competitive advantage.
Remember BBM? How it was exclusive for the longest time to Blackberry devices and they didn't make it cross-platform compatible until it was too late, at which point other messaging services had already taken over?
This is what Apple risks with iMessage. Sure, in the U.S. where Apple enjoys a large marketshare, making it cross-platform would probably work against them. However in most other countries like Germany - iMessage is barely used at all, and has died off just like BBM did. How can apple increase the use of iMessage in those countries where Whatsapp already dominates? People aren't going to replace Whatsapp with a service that is not cross-platform - this just wouldn't make sense since unless every single contact of theirs had iPhones (which won't be happening anytime soon).
There is no "locking" anyone in with iMessage anymore in the countries that already widely use Whatsapp/other services. Apple will have to rethink their strategy if they want to make iMessage relevant again in those countries.
I think the answer is, they don’t, and i doubt they care since it doesn’t generate any revenue itself. It’s clear people but iPhones for other reasons.
Signal has a less catchy name was WA was established years before Signal launched.
So no iMessage for Android is why you quit using an iPhone ? I did not realize Google Messages was available on iOS.
Yeah, here in Finland everyone I know is using Whats App, so I was forced to finally install it, as I'm not paying for SMS's for regular contact. ( I don't have an inclusive package of them )
iMessage is my main messaging platform. Everyone I know uses it. Not sure where you get the idea it’s not very popular among users especially here in the UK.
On its own I don’t think it’s a good enough reason to stay with Apple though.
iOS just looks and feels smoother to use. I’d say a bigger factor keeping users with iOS is the fact it’s constantly updated and everyone gets it from day one. I hate how Android is so fragmented in its software rollout. I also dislike how each manufacture skins Android differently. Big fan of one singular user interface for every device.
This is a huge factor for why teens stick with Apple I’d imagine. Green bubble bullying. What a world we live in
Short version: For some, Apple neither does nor can ever do anything wrong.
Long version: A consumer mindset will not see the problem with this (talking about App Store, not availability of iMessage on Android) or even other similar issues unrelated to the company-that-must-not-be-complained-about.
Also, I’d like to ask the Safari haters what they’d say about Apple or Google if Google said the same thing: want Chrome? Get a Windows computer. Otherwise stick with your Safari.
What’s the response in this case if it’s an Apple-like action taken by a non-Apple entity?
macOS is enjoying tremendously from the efforts of developers who are cross-platform. Apps can be installed on macOS from anywhere. Why not on iOS?
That question is conveniently ignored.
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Incredibly difficult to get a powerful Android One device without compromising on something or the other.
Everyone I know uses...whatever is on their phone when they bought it. I text people daily, and I couldn’t care less what’s they’re using. Not too concerned about encryption, unless the person tapping in is really interested that I’m running late, or that I need to make a stop on the way home...
it’s such a small group that is overly concerned about their SMS app.
it’s such a small group that is overly concerned about their SMS app.
There's an element of echo-chamber with that though isn't there? I use it, and I use it to communicate with others that use it, therefore it must be really popular? Dunno, I've not really missed not having it on my main phone at all. I just don't think about it.
Ref the launcher, you can pretty much just use the same launcher on any device - I use Nova for example mainly as I swap phones about so often. I just install Nova, restore my settings backup, and it's back exactly how I like it.
That's a good point. Back in the day it was all about BBM with my daughter, then iMessage was where it's at.