Google Exec Pushing RCS Adoption Says He's 'Not Asking Apple to Make iMessage Available on Android'

[BuffaloTF]

Nonsense. The standard is owned by the GSM Association that represents 750 mobile operators worldwide. How many companies have a say on the direction of travel for iMessage?

It isn’t owned by anyone. It was codified by the GSMA and anyone is free to deploy it in any manner they choose. Carriers did, and had their own closed systems that couldn’t talk to any other carrier. Samsung did and it couldn’t talk to any other system. Now Google has and it can’t talk to any other system. The API is CLOSED. There’s zero 3rd party access to the Google RCS network.

The only nonsense here is your post, which is comical in how poorly you understand RCS.

 

[McTaste]

imessage on windows please! thanks timmy

 

[jtwurth]

A disingenuous argument at best. This idea that Apple is the reason kids are bullying each other is crap. Kids of a certain age are ******. They'll find reasons and ways to bully each other. The color of their text message isn't an argument to help end bullying and peer pressure. I'm certain of two things in this world. (1) Apple will always want me to want to buy their latest device and remain in their eco system and (2) Google will always want to harvest data about my behaviors and sell that information. That may sound like splitting hairs but I can determine when I buy new Apple products. I generally avoid companies like Google & Facebook like the plague.

From the technical perspective I prefer to keep the full end-2-end encryption experience when and where possible. Last I read an update about RCS, Google had their own flavor of it that supported encryption but at the time it was only for 1-to-1 and didn't support multiple devices or groups. I hope that changes soon. But it sounds like simply using replacing RCS doesn't make it more secure than SMS. Wouldn't Apple also need to lay ground work for making any implementation of RCS on iOS secure? It doesn't sound like it's a simple switch to flip when they've already invested so much time, energy, and resources into their own platform. Not saying it isn't worth the effort but I don't see it happening quickly.

 

[ian87w]

The future is Telegram anyway.

LOL, might as well use regular SMS. Telegram is not even using e2ee by default, which most people will certainly do. RCS is essentially better.

 

[satchmo]

Maybe Google isn’t someone who should be advising on a better user experience and privacy.

 

[Black Magic]

My iMessage log is mostly missed call notifications, booking confirmations and 2FA codes.
Over here it's WhatsApp for generic people and/or big groups
Signal for my nerd buddies or if it's confidential
If you're trying to write me on Telegram, I know you're probably shady or a creep so your contact name usually gets prefixed by a ? and notifications turned off. Sometimes it's useful when you're not comfy with giving out your phone number.

There's lots of cross-platform ways to message around, let iMessage be the bubble it is.

That sounds like a mess to me. I don't want 5 applications that do the same thing. iMessage covers it all for me.

 

[Macintosh TV]

Yep. I'm not calling you out....but......(looks around at audience)...

We see data show people switch or stay with the platform just for iMessage. But yeah, what a few tech nerds think on MR carries more weight for you than actual data to the contrary of what they claim. ?

Why Apple’s iMessage Is Winning: Teens Dread the Green Text Bubble

The iPhone maker cultivated iMessage as a must-have blue-bubble texting tool for teens. Android users trigger a just-a-little-less-cool green bubble: “Ew, that’s gross.”

www.wsj.com

Google and Epic have literally accused Apple of using iMessage to keep people locked into iOS. But again, deny that and go with what a couple people on MR say in their own highly personally biased statements.

Apple kept iMessage off Android to lock users in to iOS | AppleInsider

Further details from the Epic Games court filings cite Apple executives saying they could have made an Android version of iMessage, but it would "hurt us more than help us."

appleinsider.com

 

[msackey]

Apple CAN NOT launch their own RCS network and have it interoperable with Google's. It's a closed network, and Google does not release the API. That's why all the other RCS apps that exist can't send messages to Google Messages... or to each other for that matter. It's a series of closed user groups. If Apple were to launch their own RCS network, they'd be in the identical situation Google is whining about here - a network only able to communicate to other Apple devices -- and iMessage is far superior to RCS in every respect, so why bother?

Interesting. If RCS apps are largely a field of closed networks, then it makes little sense for Apple to adopt RCS. A user might as well used any of the other closed networks such as Signal, Whatsapp, and Whatnot.

(Ok, so the last one isn't a thing, but somebody should adopt that as a network name. LOL.)

 

[KindJamz]

Aaaaah the old, "Make your rival look bad because they won't adopt your platform and play the we're just looking out for the good of the public (and by that we mean our own customers)."

Google knows that people leave Android to get iPhones just for iMessage and the integration.

Ah. Something that apple is the best at. Playing down to the public. Then doing what they want

 

[LV426]

It isn’t owned by anyone. It was codified by the GSMA and anyone is free to deploy it in any manner they choose. Carriers did, and had their own closed systems that couldn’t talk to any other carrier. Samsung did and it couldn’t talk to any other system. Now Google has and it can’t talk to any other system. The API is CLOSED. There’s zero 3rd party access to the Google RCS network.

The only nonsense here is your post, which is comical in how poorly you understand RCS.

Readers who want some facts, rather than listen to wordplay from this supercilious turnip, can read the RCS specification here directly from the publishers, the GSMA. It is completely irrelevant that standards can be extended. Just like HTML evolved over time.

 

[morphineseason]

Does this guy really think new text messaging standards are in the same ball park as "humanity and equity"? Bit of a stretch there, bud.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It's so unfair that Apple won't play on OUR playground!!!

We can't compete with iMessage, so we want to tie iMessage to a brick and hobble them to the point of unusability.

Nice...

 

[KindJamz]

Google tracks all users. Academic research study published maybe 3 years ago found Android phones report back to Google over 100 times per hour even when sitting face down and untouched. Google tracks users more than the public has any idea.

Now just show one of those studies that are current. If you think apple doesn’t track you. Lol.

 

[GBaughma]

This is honestly the most kindergarten thing I've ever heard. "Bullying" because the bubbles are green? I never even considered that. Blue just means that I didn't get charged SMS fees, green means that I did.

Google has some pretty big huevos to ASSUME that every green bubble MUST be android. If I turn off iMessage, then messages to other iPhones are green as well. Because... (drum roll) it's using SMS instead of iMessage. Doesn't matter what phone it is then; could be apple, could be a motorola razer. This is seriously just Google throwing a temper tantrum because they feel singled out.

Maybe they'll develop a new message standard called "Google Snowflake".

 

[ayjem]

Us blue bubbled folk do not want to bridge the gap between the green bubble folk

 

[GBaughma]

In the US, the carriers will be pressured into allowing private relay anyway bc of Net Neutrality as well as people knowing their privacy is being invaded by carriers...

I don't think you got the memo, but Net Neutrality is a thing of the past...

 

[nvmls]

iMessage is trash anyways, it's light years behind any decent messaging app.

 

[GBaughma]

As someone who works a little in the SMS/MMS sector, RCS is quite actually the next iteration of MMS, and Apple not supporting it is ridiculous. It's an open standard, and they are free to add it. They just ... aren't. And it's dumb.

Read post 85. RCS sounds like a train wreck to me...
I can use iMessage on my Mac, my phone, and my watch. RCS would cut out 2/3 of those devices.

 

[GBaughma]

Let’s imagine this for a sec: if there is no Color difference in chat bubble, where would those hatred come from? Everyone is green, so everyone is equal. Apple might not be the one who fuel the flame, but they ARE the one who introduces Color text bubble, and here we are.

There's a very simple reason there is a color difference.
Green = SMS that you may be charged for, depending on your contract.
Blue = iMessage that used your wifi or data.

I don't know why this is so hard to figure out. If you turn OFF iMessage so that only SMS is used, then all bubbles go green. Even to iPhones.

 

[GBaughma]

In some countries containing hundreds of thousands of people, even people using iPhones will communicate to each other using something like WhatsApp. Once I realized that, it’s easy to understand how someone can really know no one that uses iMessage.

I use iMessage.
If someone is using an old Nokia or Motorola flip phone, their messages show up in the same place as my other messages.
One stop for all my message needs.
I don't use WhatsApp, Snapchat, whatever. I want all my messages in one place.

iMessage was developed a long time ago, in a time when there was (and still is) SMS message caps. Someone at Apple said "Hey, we could send this over data instead of the user having to pay SMS fees... we should let them know we did that and saved them some money." "How about making the chat background a different color? Green means it cost them real, green money, blue means that it didn't."

It wasn't about bullying. When I was not on an unlimited SMS plan (I had like 200 messages a MONTH), I was very thankful for this. I was also very thankful for my long-distance friends (like in the UK) with iPhones, because sending them a SMS message is STILL a surcharge on my phone bill.

 

[Macintosh TV]

Ah. Something that apple is the best at. Playing down to the public. Then doing what they want

Google killed their own messaging app and now is complaining that Apple's is too attractive to users. ?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

The whole point of the gross green bubbles is to reinforce the stereotype of the “other”,

Well, as long as “other” is “SMS message that you may be paying for”, yeah that’s it. The stereotype being that this green bubble possibly cost you money (which, in the US is related to the color “green” for some reason).

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Nonsense. The standard is owned by the GSM Association that represents 750 mobile operators worldwide. How many companies have a say on the direction of travel for iMessage?

They created a standard that the vast majority of carriers don’t even care to use inter-operably?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Try to send a photo, or especially a video, at any reasonable quality, over MMS, and tell me if it's still a successful experience.

SMS is fine and is more than acceptable as a fallback, but it should be behind RCS in the tier in my opinion. Apple should support RCS as soon as possible. It's a much better experience for their users who converse with Android users.

I don’t disagree that something better than SMS is needed, but RCS isn’t it. If it WAS, every carrier in the world would already be on board, just like with SMS, but they’re not. If they devise a solution where carriers are jumping to support it, they’ll have devised the logical successor to SMS.

The challenge there, is that carriers in non-US countries charge large amounts for SMS messaging. This would likely continue with nextgen-SMS messaging. Right now, that money is bonus on top of all other charges and fees with no outlay of cash or testing or support effort. As a result, any dollar spent on updating to nextgen-SMS messaging is a dollar that eats into that bonus… for a product that the majority of their customers actively avoid using anyway due to other solutions being readily and easily available. I’d imagine the calculations were clear years ago and they all passed on it.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Interesting. If RCS apps are largely a field of closed networks, then it makes little sense for Apple to adopt RCS. A user might as well used any of the other closed networks such as Signal, Whatsapp, and Whatnot.

Pretty much. I mean, carriers wanted an update from SMS and created MMS. If they REALLY were interested in offering the features Google Guy is putting out, it’s essentially “Hey everyone, allocate more data to MMS, we’ll call it NGMS and folks will be able to see higher quality pictures, they’ll get higher quality audio AND video, the whole deal!”

SMS isn’t secure now, but I’d be willing to bet if NGMS was insecure, but allowed more data on their network such that you could send higher quality content and with enough overhead to support all the cool things the closed networks are supporting, the vast majority would use it for easy sharing and fallback to other solutions for security like they do now, it’s just the easy way would also be higher quality.

Unfortunately for anyone desiring RCS, the current implementation would require an outlay of cash from everyone involved and very few are looking to spend money on a thing with no return on investment. (In addition to ensuring their network can handle the additional data load of folks that use it. All those iPhone to Android messages would go from a tiny data load to many times larger).