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FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

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Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#321

Post by swiley »

SilverRed wrote: post #166
swiley wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>forcing someone to create an account that uses their phone number and installs an app on their device If I had any choice I would decline to join a whatsapp or signal call.

Phone number authentication is pretty nasty but it seems to be the only somewhat reliable method of spam prevention. It seems to be next to impossible to get extra phone numbers without government ID and large costs. These days even most email providers require phone number authentication to register.

I'll take the spam thanks.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#322

Post by geon »

lurkerasdfh8 wrote: post #237
bottled_poe wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can't have facetime for android because that will remove the barrier for families to buy Android phones for their kids I might be missing something... Is there something in this that is illegal?

> illegal besides being immoral and a literal F-U to your consumers, it can bring anti trust cases when you are as big as Apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in But other than that, well, just go celebrate your $2 gain on your APPL stocks despite the fact you were prohibited to call 50% of your friends just so someone couldn't save a few bucks when buying a phone for their teenage kid. Go you!

Calm down.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#323

Post by dkonofalski »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #131
reaperducer wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want half assed? Not Apple's fault. See other replies in this thread that it was killed by a patent troll.

Why would Apple be afraid of patent trolls? If they wanted to release it as an open-specification, they could.

That's the problem. They cannot because one of the technologies they're using is covered by an existing patent that doesn't allow them to open it up. They would have to re-engineer how the whole system works to make it different enough to not be applicable to that patent.

To be clear, the patent in question is reaaaaaaally generic so there's really nothing they can do to get around it while still keeping a video-calling system that allows people to call with an Apple ID.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#324

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

Grustaf wrote: post #278
lurkerasdfh8 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> illegal besides being immoral and a literal F-U to your consumers, it can bring anti trust cases when you are as big as Apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in But other than that, well, just go celebrate your $2 gain on your APPL stocks despite the fact you were prohibited to call 50% of your friends just so someone couldn't save a few bucks when buying a phone for their teenage kid. Go you!

How is it immoral to not actively support your competitor's hardware with your software and services? Of course it isn't, iMessage is not a utility, it's not a public good. You can still text or make voice calls to anyone you want, or even video calls using dozens of third party apps. They have no moral obligation at all to extend their own first party services to Android, that's an absurd idea.

A small software company is treated differently than one of the largest companies on earth, both from a moral perspective and a legal perspective.

Anticompetitive behavior is illegal for companies with a monopoly, and based on the leaked emails, it seems Apple's intentions were clear. The "monopoly" bit is still up in the air, but it's becoming increasingly clear the "anticompetitive behavior" bit is not.

This FaceTime news shows that Apple's lawyers are probably worried.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#325

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

threatofrain wrote: post #68
xd1936 wrote: post #66

"FaceTime on Android(browser) is such a brilliant way of guaranteeing your Android friends will always have a lesser experience without completing excluding them. The video chat version of green bubbles."[1] 1. https://twitter.com/russellholly/status/1401950208133632004

I don't think it's productive to equate the green/blue color thing with the accessibility or parity of experience between web apps and native apps. The green/blue distinction is very meaningful. It tells you whether your chats are encrypted, which is not a default to SMS technology. In fact it would be more honest or accurate for Apple to display a padlock to inform you that you're secure; instead we have colors.

For a company of Apple's size, it would be fairly trivial to roll out support for RCS, which would give Apple users an easy way to send encrypted messages to non-Apple users. I wonder if they'd make the messages blue or green.

Right now we're in a weird spot where sending a text from android -> Android is usually encrypted (via RCS), and Apple -> Apple is encrypted, but between the platforms they're not.

I assume Google and its users would love if Apple opted to support RCS, and I assume Google would also love if Apple built iMessage for Android. Apple's chosen to do neither, despite the fact it would give its users a richer messaging experience and a way to encrypt more of their communications.

It's their choice, but it boggles my mind that people defend it.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#326

Post by Grustaf »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #324
Grustaf wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it immoral to not actively support your competitor's hardware with your software and services? Of course it isn't, iMessage is not a utility, it's not a public good. You can still text or make voice calls to anyone you want, or even video calls using dozens of third party apps. They have no moral obligation at all to extend their own first party services to Android, that's an absurd idea.

A small software company is treated differently than one of the largest companies on earth, both from a moral perspective and a legal perspective. Anticompetitive behavior is illegal for companies with a monopoly, and based on the leaked emails, it seems Apple's intentions were clear. The "monopoly" bit is still up in the air, but it's becoming increasingly clear the "anticompetitive behavior" bit is not. This FaceTi…

Reasonable people may argue that they have a monopoly on iOS apps, which could be problematic, but they don't have anything even remotely approximating a monopoly on video calling or messaging apps, which is what we are talking about here.

They also don't have any kind of monopoly on TV or music streaming, so there would be nothing wrong (and certainly nothing illegal) with keeping Apple Music and Apple TV exclusive to their platforms, so clearly they believe they will make more money by making them cross platform. Presumably it's the same with Facetime.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#327

Post by Grustaf »

dhruvdh wrote: post #313
Grustaf wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not "preventing" anyone from doing anything, they are simply, until now, refraining from improving their competitors devices by releasing their software for it. Of course they prefer people to buy iPhones for their kids, there is nothing wrong with that, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with not actively working to make the experience of mixed Android-iPhone families slightly better. There are literally…

The email we are discussing specifically says they want to prevent customers from buying their competitors products for their friends and family.

I don't know if they use the word "prevent" or not, but we both know that they are not in fact trying to literally "prevent" anyone from buying an Android phone. They just don't want to give them some of the benefits of iOS if they do so. No reasonable person would call that "prevent".

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#329

Post by cguess »

ulfw wrote: post #244
garciasn wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because it just moves to SMS for the group, instead. Video conferencing has no ubiquitous fallback.

Neither does SMS for large parts of the world. Not everyone has unlimited SMS like US carriers do. And/or as soon as one participant is abroad you're talking international SMS prices. This isn't a clean fallback option.

Most of the world uses WhatsApp though, so there's no fallback necessary if most people in the world never even open up iMessage.

Re: FaceTime is coming to Android and Windows via the web

#330

Post by radicalbyte »

mercutio2 wrote: post #63
radicalbyte wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the really basic stuff: * Broken contact list (it's worse than Skype!). * Broken screen orientation. * Ringing on every Apple device you own under the sun. With their A-Team now on the case I'm sure that it'll get fixed.

What's broken about the contact list? What's wrong with ringing all your Apple devices?

The weird mix of emails/phone numbers, which isn't obvious to merge/fix. It's an Apple product, I expect more.

Ringing: because I have three Apple devices (MBA, MBP, iPad) and it doesn't automatically ring on the device I'm using. Again, that would be fine for someone else, but I expect more from Apple.

It's like I don't get mad if a junior developer in my team makes a mess in PHP, but I would if a senior did. I have the same feeling for Apple vs MS/Facebook et al. Apple have shown that they can do awesome (the entire Macbook experience, the wifi, instant sleep which alway works.. fantastic hardware) so it hurts when they don't live up to their high standards.

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