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Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

arstechnica.com

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Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#281

Post by throwaway290 »

shreyansh_k wrote: post #31

This seems to be Beeper's insincere attempt at dressing up their grievances to appear as if they were in advantage of the [Apple's] customer. Apple has made it clear that they won't bring iMessage to Android. People who choose to invest in Android phones know they won't get access to iMessage. It seems a bit entitled behaviour for someone to feel like Apple should be forced to bring iMessage to Android for any reason…

> Apple has made it clear that they won't bring iMessage to Android.

Apple might disagree. https://9to5mac.com/2023/11/16/apple-rcs-coming-to-iphone/

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#283

Post by websap »

badwolf wrote: post #221
function_seven wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Ma Bell was a regulated monopoly, and iMessage is not a monopoly. People routinely use WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, SMS, FB Messenger, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love that these guys are poking the bear. I wish Apple would do something to let me send high-quality photos and videos to my Android-owning friends via "text". But I don't think the government has a place to force that issue. Plenty of alternatives e…

Good news, once Apple implements RCS next year, no more postage-stamp sized MMS! Halleloo!

Really hope Apple makes a banger implementation of this. Not whatever Google and Samsung have been upto now.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#284

Post by shiroiuma »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #157
albert180 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the EU will be closely watching with Digital Services Act

Unfortunately, the EU isn't going to save us with this one. iMessage usage is minimal in the EU because so many people use alternate messaging services, and the EU already ruled that iMessage won't be forced open because it isn't widely used by business users. In the US, iMessage market share is much higher because back in the aughts we didn't have the sky high SMS rates which forced so many users to other messaging…

Exactly: here outside the US, absolutely no one uses SMS, so no one cares about this issue at all. It's like arguing over the rights to videotape standards. So to me it's somewhat amusing reading these arguments here.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#286

Post by rgbrenner »

tshirthoodie wrote: post #270
JoblessWonder wrote: post #122

As I mentioned in the previous discussion[1], users are going to have to put up with the system going down... and I just don't see that happening. From the article: "It was losing messages during the outage and never being entirely certain they had been sent or received. There was a gathering on Saturday, and she had to double-check with a couple people about the details after showing up inadvertently early at the wr…

Apple's iMessage implementation loses messages all the time. It happens about once every month between my girlfriend and I. I have also had iMesages be sent to the wrong recipient. In one ongoing case, my aunt and uncle frequently receive each other's iMessages, suggesting it's related to their group carrier plan but it's hard to say. The extended family all knows to use SMS instead, which reliably goes to the intend…

iMessage is routed through apple's servers over TCP. So this is like saying: sometimes I go to google.com but it randomly loads bing.com... must be related to my group carrier plan

What data made you make that association? Seems unlikely. If that happens, then apple would have to be routing messages incorrectly, but that would be a massive bug/security issue... especially considering how E2EE works.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#287

Post by drexlspivey »

shreyansh_k wrote: post #31

This seems to be Beeper's insincere attempt at dressing up their grievances to appear as if they were in advantage of the [Apple's] customer. Apple has made it clear that they won't bring iMessage to Android. People who choose to invest in Android phones know they won't get access to iMessage. It seems a bit entitled behaviour for someone to feel like Apple should be forced to bring iMessage to Android for any reason…

Is Beeper’s whole purpose to satisfy people’s vanity to have blue bubbles or what’s wrong with plain ol’ SMS?

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#288

Post by dijit »

lopkeny12ko wrote: post #282

How is this not getting flagged by regulatory bodies as blatantly monopolistic behavior?

Same reason PS messenger can block third party clients.

Is it ethical? Not in my opinion. Facetime and iMessage were introduced under the guise of becoming open at some point, however that was because they lost a patent lawsuit iirc[0]

it's worth focusing on the differences between iMessage and Internet Explorer (which was the last monopoly battle that anyone cares about).

The truth of it is: across Apple devices, while iMessage is installed, the alternative message systems are just too successful to argue. The overwhelming majority are using facebook messenger or whatsapp anyway. So there's no evidence that Apple is curbing another industry.

Apple is also not in a monopolistic position except on their own hardware, which is true for everyone (including Blackberry with their messenger).

[0]: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20236114

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#290

Post by shiroiuma »

freedomben wrote: post #259
jmye wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are y’all so intent on using iMessage? I (honestly) don’t understand the serious passion behind forcing Apple to open it to everyone. SMS still gets through, and other apps still work. It seems weird to focus so much on this and not on just using something that fits your use case, but maybe I’m missing something.

This has been discussed ad nauseam. In the US, not being a "blue bubble" can have a very high social cost and get you excluded from groups and communication opportunities. People just want to be able to communicate without ridiculous walled garden vendors throwing stupid road blocks in their way and making things artificially harder to get you to "buy your mom an iphone."

If Americans are this dumb, I don't see why they need any laws to protect them. Why would I want to be part of any groups that won't have me because I don't use an iPhone?

Thankfully, here outside America, this isn't an issue: absolutely no one uses SMS or cares about this stuff.

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