iMessage for Android App 'Beeper Mini' is Back, Apple ID Sign In Now Required and Phone Numbers Don't Work

[ozaz]

That doesn't answer my question. Microsoft in the 90s didn't get in trouble because it had default applications if that is what you are implying. Windows still has default applications. So why do you feel like it is significant that the Messages app is the default handler for SMS?

I'm not the one drawing a comparison with Microsoft in the 90s. The person I responded to is the one who brought that into the conversation and said "Microsoft actively tried to stop you installing and making other browsers your default browser." I was simply responding to the second part of that sentence by noting that Apple also prevents you from changing the default messaging app. But personally I don't think the comparison with Microsoft in the 90s is particularly relevant, which is why I didn't initiate that comparison myself.

As to "so why do you feel like it is significant that the Messages app is the default handler for SMS?" I think I may have had this discussion on previous pages of this thread (if not, then definitely on another recent thread). But essentially I think there are a couple of reasons. 1) it blocks the pathway for other apps to bring useful RCS support to iPhone, as a useful RCS messaging app really needs SMS fallback in the same way that iMessage needs SMS fallback); 2) Being the default SMS handler also gives iMessage a bit of an advantage over other proprietary messaging platforms as having a single app for messaging is desirable for some. Apple not enabling others to take in this role means there's not a level playing field.

But to reiterate, this was related to hypothetical points I was making about what I'd like to see if Apple were not to add RCS support. Apple adding RCS to the messages app is my preferred route to better cross-platform messaging.

Okay? You're getting that when Apple implements RCS. But there will still be advantages to various messaging services as they compete for users, so you're still going to have people that prefer to use specific services.

And that's fine if people continue to prefer other services. But when RCS arrives at least I will know that there is one pathway for sending rich communication that practically everyone will have on their phone. For me, that's much better than the current situation.

 

[_Refurbished_]

I tell my friends all the time to get an iPhone. Daily.
there is a difference in making fun of her because she is low income (which is bullying) or playful nagging about getting an iPhone

i doubt she is being bullied.

I think you need to reread my post. I said peer pressured, which is a form of bullying. She was peer pressured into getting an iPhone.
I went out to eat with my 14 year old nephew the other day and asked his best friend if people had Androids. He said “not many” as it’s uncool to have an Android in group chats. This is not a very high income high school. To think that iPhone peer pressure is a rare occurrence at that age is extremely naive, and flat out incorrect.

 

[Jon N.]

if you need iMessage that badly, just get Apple devices....

So... Apple's software is so poorly written that it can't run on any hardware platform other than Apple? I'm a retired software engineer, and if I ever tried to tell a client something like that I would have been fired.

No, unless iMessage is an absolute design nightmare (and I don't think it is, but we can never know since it's closed) it's more likely that Apple thinks they can control the market the way Microsoft did with their Windows operating system in the 90s.