Breaking: companies don’t like to spend their own money to create an advantage for their competitors. The real mistake that Apple made was announcing that iMessage would be cross-platform if they didn’t really intend to do it.
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Apple's Rationale for Not Bringing iMessage to Android Revealed in Legal Documents
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Wasn't that just Facetime...? Could be mistaken, don't shout!
Of course there is a echo-chamber here, just like people on any other messaging app. If 'everyone' is on {x} then thats all that matters to most.
Can’t believe how many folks on here remain friends with people that generate green bubbles. Exercise better judgment.
I use AirMessage on my Samsung phone and tablet, which makes iMessage work on them 100%. Yet it is still not enough for me to completely switch over to Android.
With Apple ecosystem, Notes, Airplay, Remote, Airdrop and Apple Watch integration are still much more fluid and functional compared to the alternatives offered by Samsung's ecosystem.
However, a lot of people I know, including those with Apple devices, still use WhatsApp more than iMessage for group chats, media exchange and audio/video calls simply because of the cross platform functionality.
With Apple ecosystem, Notes, Airplay, Remote, Airdrop and Apple Watch integration are still much more fluid and functional compared to the alternatives offered by Samsung's ecosystem.
However, a lot of people I know, including those with Apple devices, still use WhatsApp more than iMessage for group chats, media exchange and audio/video calls simply because of the cross platform functionality.
I wonder why Apple wasn’t able to replicate succes of iMessage outside the US. i guess it comes down to critical market share of iOS devices.
the idea of lock-in because of iMessage is just ridiculous were I live (Europe) because iMessage doesn’t bring anything compelling to the table that isn‘t available from other servies that are cross platform.
That brings me to the question why Apple hasn’t innovated the service for years? They could have added sooooo many great features that would actually make it unique and bring in more users. For instance screen sharing, remote iOS troubleshooting, collaborative office work, integration with other apps, etc.
but all we got were stickers and confusing mention and reply mechanisms.
the idea of lock-in because of iMessage is just ridiculous were I live (Europe) because iMessage doesn’t bring anything compelling to the table that isn‘t available from other servies that are cross platform.
That brings me to the question why Apple hasn’t innovated the service for years? They could have added sooooo many great features that would actually make it unique and bring in more users. For instance screen sharing, remote iOS troubleshooting, collaborative office work, integration with other apps, etc.
but all we got were stickers and confusing mention and reply mechanisms.
Yeah same, i have asked my gf (she is buying new phone soon) to consider iphone.
She refuses, "would never touch Apple".... Like why??????????????! Do you WANT Google to spy on you?!
I never get any answer for that question
Agreed. What’s App is better and more feature rich than iMessage except that it’s owned by FB so I use it as little as possible.
But I’m surely not going leave iOS for crap Android.
I agree, but I think its because such a large group of people uses the apple ecosystem. FaceTime and iMessage.
I know every year I look at some of the new android phones and say to myself, that looks cool - but the first roadblock that pops into my mind is always having to drop iMessage and FaceTime.
Surely everybody uses WhatsApp? Otherwise if the other user hasn't got iMessage then you get stung for charges etc in sending picture messages. Anecdotal I know, but everyone I know and their families would view WhatsApp as being the only game in town.
I agree, and I also think apples reason for not bringing it to Android is a little flawed too. I don't think parents are buying new phones for their kids, most of the time, they are hand me downs.
a lot of my friends using iphones, but none of us using imessages. despite having some cool feature. not able to cross platform is the main problem.
Imessage is not the lock in. The lock in is the ecosystem and apps and content /subscriptions. Most iPhone users I know use WhatsApp or telegram etc. I myself have lots of purchased media content in the likes of apple TV etc which i guess I'd have to give up when moving over to android.
This is typical Apple. They sleep on their app laurels.
It’s almost as if Apple’s apps are intended as entry level proof of concept or for functional basic feature demonstration.
Messages: why lacking good features of What’s App, e.g. like received/read datestamps?
Contacts: why can’t I enter a zip code and have town and state auto-populate?
Calendar: why can’t I go back more than 2years, and am forced to go to my Mac when I do?
Notes: why can’t I have standard text editing tools?
tvOS: why can I screen mirror from my 6S but can’t airplay (IIRC used to be able to do this)?
Mail: why is the unread counter still do wonky? Why does it show new mail but not download it? (Used to do that, now I have to wait for sync to complete.).
MFi hearing aids: why is there no duplex communication possibility? My mom needs an extremely high power aid for her one good ear. Will never be able to use AirPods or the like but she gets half the experience because she has to Schlepp her phone around if on a FaceTime if her counterpart is to hear her.
FaceTime: why is it not possible to initiate a group audio chat from the start?
You can replace WhatsApp with iMessage or any other messaging app and it works the same. I have only heard of WhatsApp in this forum. Telegram, Signal, Discord, Skype, and Messages are all used to an extent with Discord being the biggest cross platform one. Messages is built into the iPhone, anyone not with a iPhone can get one for less than £30 a month or they automatically send and receive SMS messages.
iMessage is just a progressive enhancement of a SMS.
So should I sue Sony since they are locking me in and not enabling to play xbox games on PS? Hmm.. wanna join and pay for attorneys? 😉
Yes, I recall FaceTime being announced as open source, which I recall that to mean a platform such as Android (or Windows ... or Linux 😁) could support video chat apps that can communicate with FaceTime on an iPhone. Not so much that Apple would create a FaceTime app for other platforms. The patent lawsuit from VirnetX killed that, I believe.
Other than the endless speculation in forums like this
, I don't think Apple has ever indicated interest in cross-platform iMessage.
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News flash: technically iMessage IS a paid app already. Anyone who wishes to use iMessages in iCloud will run out of space for messages and attachments very quickly and have to climb up the subscription tier ladder. 🤷♂️
The more I think about it I hardly use any of apple's own apps anymore as they have limited functionality and are buggy as hell. I tend to use Safari and handoff, those are the features I do like about Apple, but email and calendaring etc I tend to use google's apps for that stuff these days.
Silly argument really. A company has the right to sell and market their products and services any way they like. It’s not like there is a not a lot of other options.
And also, Apple does not need yet another service that they can be called out on for being a monopoly if a significant of Android users also adopted it.
And also, Apple does not need yet another service that they can be called out on for being a monopoly if a significant of Android users also adopted it.
Ok i know kids are kids and the mobile plans might wary, but are tere seriously still plans that don't have unlimeted sms? Or is it a case of animeted emojies being sent as mms eand hence costing mony, or has it nothing todo with the price of the messages?
Surely if Apple were to bring iMessage to other platforms such as Android and Windows, wouldn't that attract anti-competitive complaints from the likes of Facebook and other message providers who would probably struggle to attract users on those platforms? Mind you, looking at how Apple Music and iCloud services are implemented on Windows and Android, I don't think Spotify and Microsoft's OneDrive (and similar) has much to worry about!
I think the important thing here is that Apple isn't limiting or excluding the likes of regular SMS and other messaging services on the iOS/macOS platform. Personally, I find myself using WhatsApp far more than iMessage despite being an iPhone user for goodness knows how many years.
I think the important thing here is that Apple isn't limiting or excluding the likes of regular SMS and other messaging services on the iOS/macOS platform. Personally, I find myself using WhatsApp far more than iMessage despite being an iPhone user for goodness knows how many years.
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