Apple's Rationale for Not Bringing iMessage to Android Revealed in Legal Documents

[subi257]

It’s even more profitable if the user buys an iPhone to get access to iMessage.

There are so manny cases like that. As a business, you create a product that is desirable and it's only on one of your bigger products, so you have to buy the bigger product to get the smaller one that you really wanted in the first place.....it's product innovation and marketing on harmony.....you want "OnStar"....well you have to buy a General Motors product. If that kind of opportunity is removed from companies, it will reduce innovation and then just ruin/water down the original product due to cross platform issues. It could even bankrupt smaller companies. I think if governments want tp require interoperability bet brands in any areas, then they should design/devise the system and companies can sign on for a fee...if they want to do business. They could also have their own systems too, but we all know how well government mandated. operated systems work.

 

[ruka.snow]

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?

Unlimited texts isn't the issue. The issue is that non iPhone users are green bubbles and anytime you see a green bubble it'll mean it is a scammer, company, or someone on a feature phone. Like Tesco four stripes instead of Adidas.

 

[The Game 161]

from a business point of view it makes perfect sense

 

[rjohnstone]

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 then probably struggle to attract users on those platforms? 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.

There wouldn't be anything anticompetitive if Apple were do do that.
Pretty every messaging client out there is cross platform.
The class action lawsuits would pile up fast if Apple were to remove basic SMS functionality from their phones.
I'm sure FCC would smack down on them pretty hard as well since a lot of emergency notification services rely on basic SMS capabilities.

 

[enc0re]

I'm sure Apple knows better than me, but here is how I would approach it:

1. Release iMessage for Android/Windows etc to make it a more valuable messaging platform. But limit third-party iMessage to Apple ID only.
2. Keep seamless phone-number intercept iMessage exclusive to iPhone/Mac to give the more premium experience there. Plus, you don't want the support hassles of Android/Windows people not being able to figure out how to disassociate their phone number.

So on iPhone/Mac you would be able to use Messages as your client for both SMS and iMessage. On Android/Windows Apple Messages would be an app that only allows you to chat within the iMessage system and you'd be unable to associate your phone number with it.

 

[iMacDragon]

Unlimited texts isn't the issue. The issue is that non iPhone users are green bubbles and anytime you see a green bubble it'll mean it is a scammer, company, or someone on a feature phone. Like Tesco four stripes instead of Adidas.

Depends /very/ much on where you are. Here, only our household in family is iphone users, extended family are all android. So forced to use whats app. UK seems to be about 50/50 iOS/Android, here is more like 70/30 to android.

 

[ruka.snow]

Depends /very/ much on where you are. Here, only our household in family is iphone users, extended family are all android. So forced to use whats app.

You can send them regular MMS and SMS from Messages.

 

[iMacDragon]

You can send them regular MMS and SMS from Messages.

not when I don't have inclusive MMS or SMS. ( without paying 6c per sms message or 30 for mms, which I still consider extortion in modern market. )

 

[rjohnstone]

There are so manny cases like that. As a business, you create a product that is desirable and it's only on one of your bigger products, so you have to buy the bigger product to get the smaller one that you really wanted in the first place.....it's product innovation and marketing on harmony.....you want "OnStar"....well you have to buy a General Motors product. If that kind of opportunity is removed from companies, it will reduce innovation and then just ruin/water down the original product due to cross platform issues. It could even bankrupt smaller companies. I think if governments want tp require interoperability bet brands in any areas, then they should design/devise the system and companies can sign on for a fee...if they want to do business. They could also have their own systems too, but we all know how well government mandated. operated systems work.

Except you can get OnStar in non-GM vehicles... OnStar saw a demand and created a product called OnStar FMV.

OnStar® FMV

Rear-view mirror with OnStar

www.crutchfield.com

You can retro fit almost any car with it.

Companies will create products for a market if they see a profit potential.
Apple doesn't see that with iMessage. Which is fine and perfectly legal.
They could make it a subscription based service, but it's been surpassed by other free clients with regards to features, so there really wouldn't be any compelling reason for someone to pay for an inferior product.

 

[ruka.snow]

not when I don't have inclusive MMS or SMS. ( without paying 6c per sms message or 30 for mms, which I still consider extortion in modern market. )

I haven't seen a plan without unlimited SMS for the better part of two decades. But even when it cost per message, it wasn't a bit deal and you could use MSN messenger to get around it that time if you had more to say than "Meet you at nine".

 

[Enlightened Doggo]

You have no idea how many times my kids complained that they were bullied for them being the green bubble on their "friends'" iMessages.

Apple's lockdown of this app was brilliant from a business perspective.

Their ecosystem is the ONE THING that keeps me with them, as I find Android FAR more flexible and intuitive to use than iOS.

I've been using Android forever and the chicks I've dated have always found a way to send me videos and pics... If your kids are actually being bullied, it's probably not because they have green text bubbles.

 

[iMacDragon]

I use a data only plan, as I basically never call anyone. And nowadays, whats app seems to be the closest equivalent to MSN or the like in penetration ( sadly, I'm no fan of it )

 

[blairh]

One thing I absolutely hate about iMessage is that you can't delete messages after they have been sent. This has been an issue with me a few times. WhatsApp allows for this. I also like how you cannot disable read receipts on WhatsApp.

As for this news story, this is no surprise.

 

[TimFL1]

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 cool, I don't think Apple has ever indicated interest in cross-platform iMessage.

They did intend for it to be cross-platform at first. Before iMessage became iMessage it was proposed as the new secure texting standard to replace SMS. Issue was carriers being carriers and giving Apple the middlefinger.

There‘s an interesting interview with Forstall that went into detail about this. Surprised this little fact isn‘t more widespread.

Also, why does a thread about iMessage on non-Apple devices ALWAYS derail into blue bubble warriors defending the lock-in move? There is not a single argument other than pure greed that justifies creating a platform exclusive texting solution. None.

 

[darkcompass]

I was playing a card game over christmas where you have a message sent to you and you have to "reply" with the cards you have in your hand. We got this as a response to "an invite" , it says it all really.

 

[himanshumodi]

are there people out there who buy iPhones just for iMessage?

On a separate note, I also think that Apple probably never developed a messenger service for android, because there's no revenue model there except harvesting user data, which Apple is not interested in. If there was a chance that people who used iMessages on Android could be swayed into the Apple ecosystem, Apple would have developed it.

 

[tivoboy]

They could have so easily just said they didn’t want to have to enable cross platform primary encryption key sharing and can only confirm integrtity inside their iOS universe.

 

[mrboult]

Can Epic just sod off please. I like Apple’s walled garden, its exactly why I buy Apple products you annoying teabags.

If people don’t like it they’ll buy Android. Job done.

Why Epic make out like they’re fighting the people’s battle is beyond me. Assumably the people that buy into Apple do it because that’s the experience they want.
Epic thinking they have the right to challenge this pisses me right off.

Also, I’ve never had a single issue with my friends or contacts having/not having iMessage. Literally who give a toss. Everyone seems to use WhatsApp anyway. . .

My overall take home from this is Epic can go suck my eggs.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I will never understand how iMessage of all things locks people to iOS
It’s not even that good

Because it’s a great default. It’s certainly much better than SMS/MMS.

 

[0924487]

Don’t they use Wechat for everything?

You can use something else too, it’s not a requirement to use WeChat. The government doesn’t own the protocol. Private sector companies are allowed to innovate and trump WeChat if they are able to. Before WeChat, it used to be QQ.

 

[827538]

Am I the only one who sees this as way less of an issue than is being made out? I can text via SMS my friends using messages on any Apple device, the only difference is they appear as a green bubble, hardly a big deal. Seems more a case of blue bubble envy.

My whole family and virtually all of my friends are Apple/iPhone users, so I guess for me it's a bit of a mute point.

I keep trying out Android devices and I've yet to have any urge to switch and that's before I even consider the benefits of the Apple ecosystem. My friend actually just replaced his Android smart watch with an Apple Watch after seeing how well mine worked with Microsoft Authenticatior, doesn't sound like a big deal but it's just one of those small quality of life improvements that rock.

My wife and I both like the family sharing stuff, being able to see where I am or where her mother is adds to that experience. I fully plan on getting my kids Apple Watches when they are old enough.

I'm excited to be able to use my Apple Watch to use my car.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

I don't want anyone in my family to get an Android phone. Why? Because when they run into issues I will have to give them tech support. No thanks.
My friends are one by one switching to iPhone, which is great. Those without an iPhone have been reaching me over WhatsApp, and soon will only be able to reach me using Signal, as I'm dropping WhatsApp soon.

 

[i-John]

The most American of lock-ins, since iMessage is barely used elsewhere.

Epic should seriously consider going home, after leaving the car keys to the bartender.

So Apple is doing its best to keep its customer. What a bad company. No other company does that. All other companies just want their customers to leave them. Did Epic really lost any leftovers of common sense?

There is a difference trying to keep your customers and taking steps that can be seen as anti-competitive to prevent people from having multiple devices.

 

[ruka.snow]

Because it’s a great default. It’s certainly much better than SMS/MMS.

It is great in that it is a progressive enhancement on top of SMS/MMS. SMS messages continue to work just fine and automatically switch to messages. It'll be even better when carriers change SMS to the IP based version. No account needed, no data harvesting, it just works as varnish over a old clunky system in much the same way messaging apps now stitch together the multiple SMS that make up the full message so you only get one message.

 

[Razorpit]

One of the reasons my iPhone adventure (that started with the 3) ended last August.

The Google Pixel 4a has been awesome. After a few months of ramp up time, Google Messages became a solid platform for all of my devices (including macOS-based systems which are the only Apple products that I continue using... my iPads are gathering dust other than one that my wife uses).

Similar yet different experience. All my Android devices are collecting dust on store shelves. I think they are so awesome they are best left unopened. That way they can last forever!