Google's New 'iPager' Ad Shames Apple for Using Outdated Messaging Standard

[Hildy]

The new SMS is WhatsApp and it has been for nearly the past decade in the UK. You can have group chats etc regardless of what device you’re using.

Suckers.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

if you don't sync iMessages between devices that data is not stored in Apple servers.
there was an issue where Apple couldn't give messages from a phone that criminal was using to government because they said unless user syncs data between devices or do a iCloud backup they can't access the data.
I am not saying Apple is not using user data for advertisements.

I understand what you are saying, but if Apple wants to look at your messages and your photos, they can. They may not make it known and they would of course deny this to the bitter end, but they have access...trust me.

 

[noonas_the_mac_head]

Not going happen as they need it as part of the closed ecosystem

Maybe so, however there are still ways to ensure ecosystem stability.
BBM was toppled by WhatsApp - and yes I agree it is not completely the same thing, sometimes going open (not open-source) and offering iMessage as a standard for any platform would quash any RCS talks.

BTW I used to work on RCS (10 years ago) - was not palpable to operators then, does not seem to be now..

 

[Hails09]

Suckers.

I suppose 2.7 billion users of an app are suckers then.

 

[OneBar]

Even if Apple switched to RCS, it wouldn't be Google's RCS and we'd still have these whiny complaints. Stuff it Google, you already get too much of our data, you don't need all of it.

 

[gund1234]

That's a pretty weak take. I seriously doubt anyone is jealous of the bubble color on your screen. You should keep in mind that those colors only exist on the iPhone users screen and are thus irrelevant to anyone not using an iPhone.

The real issue here is that the user messaging experience is hobbled by Apple as a means to sell more iPhones. People are clearly more incline to pressure their friends to buy a different product than to pressure Apple to make their product play well with others. A group chat with a non iPhone does not have to ruin the experience but it's in Apples best interest to keep the pain points alive.
On top of messages (especially group messages), the other pain point is sending pictures. Apple knows sending pictures over SMS are total garbage and even over compresses them to make them worse. This gives the average iPhone user the impression that photos on other phones aren't good which again is good for Apple. These too major issues create social pressure which is what really drives iPhone sales. Apples own internal emails have even confirmed this.

I guess what I don't understand is why Apple users are willing to accept a completely avoidable degraded experience with cross platform interoperability. This makes for a poor user experience for everyone involved, iPhone users included. The only reason someone without an iPhone would be upset at the bubble color on their friends phone is because those friends will complain about the poor user experience. A user experience on which Apple insists continue.

i am perfectly fine with what Apple is doing here.
There are countless apps that can be used to communicate with others who don't own iPhone.
Google can make an app for iPhone using RCS technology if they care.

 

[C109321]

Not going happen as they need it as part of the closed ecosystem

When we're all investing and buying stuff from a company that has the strongest motivations to avoid interoperability and compatibility with the rest of the world, to keep us all from leaving. 🙃 #StockholmSyndrome

 

[gund1234]

I don’t think the issue is what colour the bubble is. If the bubble was greeen but offered the benefits of RCS or iMessage, there would be much less stigma around it. Green bubbles are only an issue because Apple insists on making texting with non-iOS devices a terrible experience for everyone.

Use WhatsApp it is better than what Google is offering

 

[HazeAndHahmahneez]

Google is only good for one thing in my view, Search - and they are ***** that up now too. Also, ironic how the green bubble crew and their goofy looking emojis are making fun of Apple.

MacRumors is censoring an already censored variation of the word 'effing'. What is this, effing preschool?

Yeah man smoogle emoji game is messed up. Apple really does have elegance on lock down! 💪🏾

UK, EU, US, etc all love their citizens using it. Ditto meta. They like being able to monitor their citizens.

They think 1984 was an instruction manual.

SMH. I mean, I guess it’s called the old world for a reason…

How long are they going to cry about this.

As long as Apple has the massive market dominance in the us, is my guess. It probably really fries their canolies that their homeland “shuns” them.

So when did you become entitled to my bank account and how I spend my money?

Easy chief, it was only a suggestion. Pointed, but a suggestion nonetheless.

Everyone I know in the US who owns an Android is a person who always purchases the cheaper option, without giving a thought as to why the more expensive option is more expensive. They should try to remember the old adage…”You get what you pay for.”

Hey, you stole my argument! Lol

As someone who owns Pixel phones and has never owned an iPhone, Google really needs to stop. Apple is protecting its core business which primarily is the iPhone. I don't see anything wrong with that. If Apple wants to maintain their current messaging service then that's their prerogative.

Ummmm, good points and all but if you’re using android please go all the way that way with that mess. I don’t want smoogle seeing what I write 🤢

 

[SactoGuy18]

Sorry Google. I'd rather install WhatsApp, given that much of the world uses WhatsApp instead of RCS.

 

[TechieGeek]

The “Google RCS” solution they’re promoting falls back to SMS when there’s no data connection. So, even “Google RCS” can’t move on from the antiquated SMS/MMS standard!

If we can transition 90% of SMSs and MMSs to RCS, isn't that still a win? Get us delivery notifications, higher image quality, and maybe e2e encryption for the majority of messages that are currently flying around as SMS and MMS?


It doesn't have to be "Google RCS", it can be "Verizon RCS" or "T-Mobile RCS", Apple could choose to support whichever RCS standard it wanted. They're interoperable

 

[TechieGeek]

Use WhatsApp it is better than what Google is offering

Yes, certainly, but most of the Android users in the USA don't do that because culturally folks in the US use their phone's built-in messaging app, whether that's sending iMessages or SMSs.

Given how difficult it would be to change cultural norms so that everyone in the US switches to WhatsApp, or (even more difficult) so that people use different apps to message Android users vs. iPhone users, a much better solution would simply be to upgrade the SMS/MMS experience.

It doesn't matter what color the chats are, but lets upgrade that core network technology that's used as a fallback to iMessage.

 

[odedia]

Well. This was a great ad to get you to stick to the Apple ecosystem end to end. Nice job, Google.

 

[Hails09]

Why would Apple invest money in developing the technology and make it open source so that others can benefit from it ?

Oh Jeez
I didn’t know that’s what closed ecosystem meant. They are not going to use RCS because they would lose market share in USA.

 

[4odomi]

Google is continuing on with its relentless #GetTheMessage marketing campaign in an attempt to get Apple to adopt the RCS messaging protocol. In its latest ad, Google shows off the "iPager," which Google describes as a device that "uses outdated messaging tech" like Apple uses "when texting with Android."

RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is a communication protocol designed by and adopted by Google. Google has been pushing Apple to implement support for RCS, but Apple devices continue to support the older SMS protocol. Google claims that Apple is responsible for all the issues that Android and iPhone users have texting one another, including lack of encryption, broken group chats, pixelated pictures and videos, and the green bubbles.

"iPager isn't real, but the problems that Apple causes by using SMS are. Let's make texting better for everyone and help Apple #GetTheMessage and upgrade to RCS," read's Google's video.

Major U.S. carriers and other carriers worldwide have adopted support for RCS, but Apple has no plans to do so despite Google's multi-year effort. Google has used billboards, ads, websites, social media campaigns, and more to get Apple's attention and to try to convince iPhone users to request the feature from Apple, but so far, it hasn't worked.

In September 2022, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that RCS is not a priority for Apple. "I don't hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy in on that at this point," he explained. To one reporter who said he was having an issue texting his mother on an Android device, Cook said "Buy your mom an iPhone."

It is not clear if Apple will ever adopt RCS, but so far, it does not sound like the company has any interest in doing so. If Apple did adopt RCS, it would allow for end-to-end encryption for conversations between iPhone and Android users, as well as higher quality media. Apple already offers these features for the iMessage service that works from iPhone to iPhone.

Article Link: Google's New 'iPager' Ad Shames Apple for Using Outdated Messaging Standard

Why should Apple help it's main competitor adopt a new messaging standard 🤔
Very few Android users actually use sms, most use WhatsApp and that's Google's real issue

 

[Iconoclysm]

Riiiiiiiight! Hey, if you want to believe this is true go for it. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Want to believe? This is fact.

 

[4odomi]

Yeah, iMessage is their real problem, and its popularity is the reason most iPhone users don’t care about/understand the RCS issue.

True, we don't care!
Like Tim Cook says, if you have an issue with Android sms, get an iPhone

 

[4odomi]

I don't know a single person that green bubbles, so this doesn't apply

I simply refuse to associate with anyone that uses green bubbles 🤣

 

[Iconoclysm]

Could you expand on this? How specifically is Google's RCS implementation crappy?

It runs on Google servers, all RCS goes through Google. That's very different from something like SMS...and it's really more like telling all Google users to use iMessage instead of SMS.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

If we can transition 90% of SMSs and MMSs to RCS, isn't that still a win? Get us delivery notifications, higher image quality, and maybe e2e encryption for the majority of messages that are currently flying around as SMS and MMS?


It doesn't have to be "Google RCS", it can be "Verizon RCS" or "T-Mobile RCS", Apple could choose to support whichever RCS standard it wanted. They're interoperable

A huge amount of personal use traffic is ALREADY transitioned. The majority of messages going over SMS (and it’s still a lot of messages) are messages from businesses to businesses or from businesses to individuals. And, RCS wasn’t required to make that happen.

The only individuals still using SMS are doing so because they either don’t need or care about higher image quality or delivery notifications or maybe they just don’t understand ALL the options available that individuals use to communicate.

 

[Iconoclysm]

It's so odd seeing the number of people that are okay with Apple sticking with sending completely unencrypted SMS messages as the standby if both parties don't use iMessage, while also refusing to allow half the world to use iMessage. Obviously it helps Apple's lock-in customers, but it does nothing but harm users.

There's no upside to this for anyone.

Yeah, you obviously are confused about what the alternative is.

 

[4odomi]

Not all of us feel comfortable depending on a Meta/Facebook product.

Get an iPhone 😊

 

[TechieGeek]

The only individuals still using SMS are doing so because they either don’t need or care about higher image quality or delivery notifications or maybe they just don’t understand ALL the options available that individuals use to communicate.

This is true, it's not the techies getting impacted, it's the grandma that's trying to send a video of her grandchild or a photo from a birthday party that's getting screwed by the hardcode MMS compression. It's the family group chat that that includes grandma, where photos and videos are coming in compressed.

Apple could step in and assist in fixing this.

 

[4odomi]

RCS is much more featureful than SMS, it supports images, videos, geolocation, file attachments and so on, and also end-to-end encryption, which SMS does not. It’s not about the color of the bubbles, it’s about the capabilities of the protocol.

All of that is on WhatsApp already for free!
Alternatively get an iPhone.
All google wants is it's own chat platform and Apple to do the work

 

[4odomi]

This is true, it's not the techies getting impacted, it's the grandma that's trying to send a video of her grandchild or a photo from a birthday party that's getting screwed by the hardcode MMS compression. It's the family group chat that that includes grandma, where photos and videos are coming in compressed.

Apple could step in and assist in fixing this.

No Reason they can't buy grandma an iPhone....much easier to use than Android 😊