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
None of those other RCS things exist anymore. Its Google RCS or nothing. And it needs to be in Google Messages to be E2EE.