Google increasingly calling out Apple for not adopting RCS (Rich Communication Services) on the iPhone
In recent months, Google has been pressuring Apple to adopt RCS (Rich Communication Services) on the iPhone. RCS would enhance messaging between Android and iOS users by replacing SMS/MMS.
RCS (“Rich Communication Services”) is a protocol that allows several vendors, such as ISPs or handset manufacturers, to develop applications that send and receive messages. Many Android phones already have RCS messaging capabilities.
Problems that need to be addressed, include:
- Low-resolution photos and videos,
- Bad group chat experiences,
- Android users without Wi-Fi/data connectivity,
- Accessibility standards that are broken
- Typing indicators,
- Absent end-to-end encryption
These problems are possiblity due to Apple’s continued reliance on SMS/MMS for non-iMessage communications.
Google contended that Apple’s backing of RCS would prevent some of the issues that arise when Android users text with iPhone users. Currently, images and videos don’t appear as crisp as they might, and text messages can’t be sent over Wi-Fi networks, for example
Google global vice president for integrated marketing for platforms, Adrienne Lofton says it’s awful when Android users are blamed for ruining conversations.
“It’s time to acknowledge that Apple is to blame.” says Lofton
Apple dominates the mobile market with its iOS and Android operating systems, and the latter has 55 percent of the U.S. market, according to StatCounter.
Because users are less likely to switch to another platform or app if all their contacts use the same messaging service, messaging has become a key battleground for tech giants.
Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, says that iMessage is widely used in the United States and thus competes directly with Apple.
“Some legislators are also pushing for fair competition rules that would force competing services to work together, particularly in messaging.” it said
Earlier this year, Hiroshi Lockheimer, a Google senior vice president in charge of Android, cited internal Apple emails that were made public during a lawsuit last year to support his assertion that Apple is using its own text messaging platform to lock in its customers
According to an email in 2013 current Apple senior vice president in charge of software, Craig Federighi wrote “I am concerned iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones,”.
iMessage conversations on an iPhone offer a better user experience than SMS conversations. Apple’s functions, such as adding emoji reactions to just one text, hardly function on SMS conversations.
iMessage conversations seem quicker because of Apple’s animations and include things like bubbles that reveal whether someone is typing, as well as group chat administration.
This year, Apple will release new iMessage capabilities, including the ability to unsend or edit messages.
