Walkthrough of Apple's iMessages in iOS 5

[Gemütlichkeit]

one thing I do like about texting is that the picture sent across MMS doesn't count towards data.. I currently run the 200mb plan and if someone sends me a lot of pictures it could add up.

does anyone know what the average picture sent over MMS is in mb or kb?

 

[scoobydoo99]

They do. 200 messages.

Ok. Well I guess you could also say they charge 25 cents a month for "text messaging" (1 message per month.)

Point is, to say AT&T "charges $5 a month" for text messaging makes it sound more reasonable than it is - they actually charge $10 per month for 1000 messages or $20 per month for unlimited, or 25 cents per message with no messaging plan.

 

[acfusion29]

oh so now everyone loves this feature. this is exactly what bbm is and i've been saying we need this and i was always given the "this is just like yahoo, aim, etc" now you people finally see it's not like any of those messaging clients because apple's made it?



great feature though. will use it all the time

 

[Thex1138]

iMessages is the foundations for some juicy new features ahead I am sure...

 

[-LikesMac-]

I think iChat is going the way of the buffalo, which is why it's not receiving any integration or updates. Were there even any updates announced for iChat in lion?

I rarely use iChat anymore anyway. It's all text messages now. And I think that's what apple is going for

There were updates for iChat in Mac OS X Lion, it makes it considerably better for me to use. http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#ichat6

I WANT TO SEND MORE THAN JUST TEXT U KNOW

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

oh so now everyone loves this feature. this is exactly what bbm is and i've been saying we need this and i was always given the "this is just like yahoo, aim, etc" now you people finally see it's not like any of those messaging clients because apple's made it?



great feature though. will use it all the time

i don't think anyone is denying it's similarities to bbm. think about this, with it being a feature in the blackberry lineup, would it be worth it to switch from a pre 5.0 iphone to a black berry just for BBM? no

now that it's here on the iphone, i'm not going to turn my nose up at it.

 

[DotCom2]

Yeah I pay $20, $5 would be awesome.

I pay $5.00 a month to ATT for 200 texts a month.

 

[lordoftheflatbu]

Copycat

I like this feature very much....but guess this is almost an exact copy of what Whatsapp does.....nothing new. And...Whatsapp does support more platforms than iOS....so what's the fuss? I keep using Whatsapp for this reason....

WhatsApp messenger is a cross platform smartphone messenger currently available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones. The application utilizes push notifications to instantly get messages from friends, colleagues and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages at no cost. All features are included without the need for extra in-application purchases.

*************************************
WHY USE WHATSAPP VS. OTHER SOLUTIONS:
*************************************

* NO HIDDEN COST: Once you and your friends download the application, you can use it to chat as much as you want. Send a million messages a day to your friends for free! WhatsApp uses your Internet connection: 3G/EDGE or Wi-Fi when available.

* MULTIMEDIA: Send Video, Images, and Voice notes to your friends and contacts.

* GROUP CHAT: Enjoy group conversations with your contacts.

* NO INTERNATIONAL CHARGES: Just like there is no added cost to send an international email, there is no cost to send WhatsApp messages internationally. Chat with your friends all over the world as long as they have WhatsApp Messenger installed and avoid those pesky international SMS costs.

* SAY NO TO PINS AND USERNAMES: Why even bother having to remember yet another PIN or username? WhatsApp works with your phone number, just like SMS would, and integrates flawlessly with your existing phone address book.

* NO NEED TO LOG IN/OUT: No more confusion about getting logged off from another computer or device. With push notifications WhatsApp is ALWAYS ON and ALWAYS CONNECTED.

* NO NEED TO ADD BUDDIES: Your Address Book is used to automatically connect you with your contacts. Your contacts who already have WhatsApp Messenger will be automatically displayed under Favorites, similar to a buddy list. (You can of course always edit Favorites any way you like)

* OFFLINE MESSAGES: Even if you miss your push notifications or turn off your iPhone, WhatsApp will save your messages offline until you retrieve them during the next application use.

* STATUS: Use the status feature of WhatsApp to inform your contacts if you are busy, in a meeting, at the gym, or available for a chat.

* AND MUCH MORE: Share location, Exchange contacts, Custom wallpaper, Custom notification sounds, Landscape mode, Precise message time stamps, Email chat history, Broadcast messages and MMS to many contacts at once and much much more!

 

[philitup23]

anyone who has iOS 5 beta want to give me their phone number so we can try iMessaging?
my sn on AIM is philitup23. i-m me on that if you dont want give your phone number out to everyone.

 

[PCClone]

I use text plus on my iPad and it costs nothing. The app was free and they provide a phone number for free as well.

 

[jlc1978]

Tell me about it. This whole text message fee from the phone companies is nothing more than collusion on their parts to fix prices. They all get to squeeze $5 extra out of every customer per month. It adds up.

The data for text messages should be covered by either the phone plan or the data plan. This is ridiculous.

Why? They are in the business of making money, and text messaging is something people value and will pay for. The cost of providing the service has nothing to do with what you can sell it for; it's what people will pay and history shows people will pay for text messaging. By not charging for it they'd be remiss in their duty to shareholders to make as much profit as possible.

 

[zhenya]

I like this feature very much....but guess this is almost an exact copy of what Whatsapp does.....nothing new. And...Whatsapp does support more platforms than iOS....so what's the fuss? I keep using Whatsapp for this reason....

Sorry - Whatsapp is NOTHING like this because its usefulness hinges on the fact that the person on the other end of the conversation must also have Whatsapp installed. Yeah, that's not going to happen if you are over 17 years old.

The reason that SMS has been so wildly successful is that it is a dead-reliable instant messaging system that works for virtually every mobile phone ever built, is cross-carrier and cross platform, and requires no effort or configuration on the users end. As long as someone has your phone number, they can send you an SMS.

This update by Apple is impressive because it integrates directly into SMS, and as was well-stated earlier, automatically defaults to using the lowest cost network currently available. It takes everything that works about SMS, and whenever possible, bypasses that expensive communication method. I'm honestly surprised that Apple did this, because it has the potential to cost the carriers millions - but I don't buy that the carriers didn't know about it. AT&T has been changing their available text-messaging plans almost monthly for some time now - such that the cheap plans are no longer available - and, successfully, I might add, hooking people into lucrative unlimited messaging plans by tacking on free mobile to any mobile calling. They must have known this golden goose was about to leave the nest.

 

[DocNYz]

There were updates for iChat in Mac OS X Lion, it makes it considerably better for me to use. http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#ichat6

I WANT TO SEND MORE THAN JUST TEXT U KNOW

Seriously. Especially huge files you can't send through email and crippled web interfaces like gmail/gchat, the direct, encrypted connection that iChat offers is exceptional for that. Not to mention video chatting with four people at the same time. Texting is great but not for people that want to interact on deeper levels or send a lot of data between each other and across the world.

 

[ApplLover]

Dissapointed

I am VERY dissapointed in iMessage. I imagined something more along the lines of BBM... basically all this is is a glorified SMS.

There are no chat groups, no apart contact list like BBM.. which actually gives it an exclusive feel. Also everyone is already able to iMessasge me? WTF.

I hate it and its going to be a bust. Can't wait for BBM for iPhone.

 

[Trauma1]

I am VERY dissapointed in iMessage. I imagined something more along the lines of BBM... basically all this is is a glorified SMS.

There are no chat groups, no apart contact list like BBM.. which actually gives it an exclusive feel. Also everyone is already able to iMessasge me? WTF.

I hate it and its going to be a bust. Can't wait for BBM for iPhone.

So you've used the final, published version of iOS 5 extensively? And can infer that it will never have new, added features through upgrades?

 

[ten-oak-druid]

i'm all for cutting down on my texting.. i'm already under 1000 a month

very excited about this

I pay per text. Usually the cost comes in under $5 for me from a combination of text only and picture messages. During the major holiday months I get up to the $10 mark but its not worth paying for the plan.

Why? They are in the business of making money, and text messaging is something people value and will pay for. The cost of providing the service has nothing to do with what you can sell it for; it's what people will pay and history shows people will pay for text messaging. By not charging for it they'd be remiss in their duty to shareholders to make as much profit as possible.

We should all learn to not value it because it is a rip off.

Capitalism is a give and take you know. There are two sides in the negotiation. Consumers are not supposed to just accept everything without a say in the matter. If people learn to understand they are being ripped off they can decide to stop purchasing a product. Shareholders will make their money. Don't worry. The company might have to work ever so slightly harder for it and earn an honest wage. And the customers have a duty to be wise with their money if they are wise at all.

Yeah I pay $20, $5 would be awesome.

For texting? Well that depends. It would be awesome if you didn't have a data plan already. But if you are already paying for a data plan and a phone plan then the phone company is ripping you off for $5 a month for a texting plan. You shouldn't have to pay twice for something.

I would turn texting off completely but I keep it on just in case of emergency and some people text me more than I would like. However I may actually turn off texting all together. Don't we have enough ways to communicate? Can't we send email with these same phones? Let's not waste money on texting any more.

 

[cvaldes]

I am VERY dissapointed in iMessage. I imagined something more along the lines of BBM... basically all this is is a glorified SMS.

There are no chat groups, no apart contact list like BBM.. which actually gives it an exclusive feel. Also everyone is already able to iMessasge me? WTF.

I hate it and its going to be a bust. Can't wait for BBM for iPhone.

As you sure that the pre-release version of iMessage demoed at Steve's WWDC keynote is fully completed feature-wise and will get no future improvements?

Please let us know and provide sources that prove your argument. Feel free to include positively-verified references that support your thesis.

Thank you.

 

[ChrisTX]

I love the idea that sms messages get pushed to the iPad as well. So if I'm working on my iPad and get a text, it get's pushed to my iPad so I don't even hsve to change devices.

 

[PCClone]

I like this feature very much....but guess this is almost an exact copy of what Whatsapp does.....nothing new. And...Whatsapp does support more platforms than iOS....so what's the fuss? I keep using Whatsapp for this reason....

WhatsApp messenger is a cross platform smartphone messenger currently available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones. The application utilizes push notifications to instantly get messages from friends, colleagues and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages at no cost. All features are included without the need for extra in-application purchases.

*************************************
WHY USE WHATSAPP VS. OTHER SOLUTIONS:
*************************************

* NO HIDDEN COST: Once you and your friends download the application, you can use it to chat as much as you want. Send a million messages a day to your friends for free! WhatsApp uses your Internet connection: 3G/EDGE or Wi-Fi when available.

* MULTIMEDIA: Send Video, Images, and Voice notes to your friends and contacts.

* GROUP CHAT: Enjoy group conversations with your contacts.

* NO INTERNATIONAL CHARGES: Just like there is no added cost to send an international email, there is no cost to send WhatsApp messages internationally. Chat with your friends all over the world as long as they have WhatsApp Messenger installed and avoid those pesky international SMS costs.

* SAY NO TO PINS AND USERNAMES: Why even bother having to remember yet another PIN or username? WhatsApp works with your phone number, just like SMS would, and integrates flawlessly with your existing phone address book.

* NO NEED TO LOG IN/OUT: No more confusion about getting logged off from another computer or device. With push notifications WhatsApp is ALWAYS ON and ALWAYS CONNECTED.

* NO NEED TO ADD BUDDIES: Your Address Book is used to automatically connect you with your contacts. Your contacts who already have WhatsApp Messenger will be automatically displayed under Favorites, similar to a buddy list. (You can of course always edit Favorites any way you like)

* OFFLINE MESSAGES: Even if you miss your push notifications or turn off your iPhone, WhatsApp will save your messages offline until you retrieve them during the next application use.

* STATUS: Use the status feature of WhatsApp to inform your contacts if you are busy, in a meeting, at the gym, or available for a chat.

* AND MUCH MORE: Share location, Exchange contacts, Custom wallpaper, Custom notification sounds, Landscape mode, Precise message time stamps, Email chat history, Broadcast messages and MMS to many contacts at once and much much more!

Are you their sales rep? You have only a few posts and are advertising this on multiple sites.

 

[Worf]

I'm just glad that in an age of Terabytes recognizes thats it's absolutely ridiculous to be paying for kilobytes! Each message is only a few kilobytes thats why text messages have such ridiculous high margins for carriers. Also US is one of few countries that still charges for incoming text messages. For those of us who have a decent number of friends and family on iOS this will be great for us.

 

[qwerter]

Can't wait to be iIMing on imessage.

Come on Apple. Make those talented people in marketing be creative. Slapping an i in front of everything is too easy.

It's a messaging scheme that works across all iDevices. What else would they call it?

 

[wordoflife]

Can you clarify something. Are you paying $30 for just the texting on top of data? Or is that data plus unlimited texting? I'm just curious.


I'm not directing this next comment specifically at you. But I have to say part of the problem I see in getting rid of these text fees is that people are debating the prices as though any text price is legitimate. Regardless of how good the plan is, everyone should understand that the text should be part of the data plan you pay for. I see a lot of people arguing that they get unlimited text as part of a package in response to people saying texting plans are outrageous. (I know that is not the point of your post.) But everyone should really understand that the phone companies are double charging for data when they do this. You can still look for good plans if texting is part of the data.

I also have seen people in the past try to tell me that texting is over a different part of the mobile band than data. Well the text either uses the phone band or the data band. One or the other. To charge for texts is double charging. I can see putting texts down as minute calls or some time length appropriate if it is part of the phone band.

And now we see Apple is making text work as part of the data plan. So certainly the phone companies can do this. Well they will have to if Android does this too and third party apps as well.

I am paying $30 for unlimited texting on top of paying for a data plan. I'm saying that I can't completely drop it because not everyone I text has an iPhone. I like the idea, but unfortunately, it makes little to no difference for me. I know that they are ripping us off like this but I guess you are paying for the convenience of sending messages to any phone. I wouldn't pay so much money for texting, but it's not something I would want to give up and I guess that's just how the world works

I didn't understand what you meant by "double charging for data" though. Text messages are going through the carrier and you can send them whether you have a data plan or not. If you have a data plan, it doesn't count against you. (Or are you saying that text messages travel through the data network?)

 

[fertilized-egg]

Just an astounding amount of people who do not read thoroughly. This is not like whatsapp or other messging services because it's completely transparent to the users - you don't use a separate app and you don't need to add any extra info. unlike BBM. On the upside you get a much cheaper or even free (in wifi zone) text and you get a host of features not available with SMS. No iOS5 for the recipient? Sure then it's just a regular SMS so nothing's lost.

This is a bonus feature to the existing SMS with very little for you to lose. Turn off the feature completely if you like. Otherwise all it does, at worst, is rerouting your texts through cheaper channels.

 

[Blorzoga]

Unfortunately for us consumers, once the carriers start losing all the gravy that is text message fees, they'll just make it up somewhere else. It will be just like the banks when the new regs came along that prevented them from charging for "courtesy" overdrafts, they just jacked up the fees elsewhere to replace the lost income stream.

Personally, I abhor text messaging because it is a complete rip off. On the rare occasion that I have to send one, I use a free service. So I will welcome the new iMessage service; I'm just wary of the carriers' response when they begin to lose all those fees.

 

[CrzyCanuck72]

Someone earlier in this thread brought up a real-life usage scenario that, based on the info we have now, could be a real problem:

I own an iPod Touch/iPad running iOS 5 and a non-iPhone (BB, Android, whatever). I have iMessages set up on my iPod/iPad using my Apple ID (or however it's set up on an iOS device that doesn't have an associated phone number) so I can message friends who are using iPhones on iOS 5 using my iPod. Later, those same friends want to send me a text - because their iPhone sees that my contact entry is iMessage-enabled, it sends the message to my iPod. I never receive it because my iPod is at home and I'm at the bar with my non-iPhone.

Unless Apple has come up with some way to address this issue, I think iMessages should have been restricted to iPhones, or to iPods/iPads that are paired with iPhones. There's too much potential for people to think they're sending a text when it's actually going to an iPod/iPad that isn't with the recipient.

TL;DR: based on iMessages settings, how can you ensure that when someone else initiates messages to you, they are going to the right device?