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Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

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Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#161
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind elaborating on why Signal was sub-par? I use it as my main messenger and find it to be fine. There have been issues where older clients couldn’t receive messages and needed to upgrade their phones to fix. And migrating to a new phone is fragile, but everyday messaging seems ok to me. Edit: honestly the challenge is getting other people to install it

Can't speak for the poster you are responding to, but as someone who also uses Signal for a portion of my social circle, here's my big one: Signal is tied to a phone number, so I can't use it from multiple devices/platforms (unless I want to show up as a different entity from each of them). This alone is the reason why I personally would not freely choose Signal, and only use it because some of my friends insist :-\

Matrix / Element should have a comparable feature set to signal for almost all use cases and supports traditional username/password.

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#162
post #28

Not only did Apple miss an opportunity to own global messaging, Google could have done the same if they had designed Allo with SMS fallback similar to iMessage. I have no idea what they were thinking with Allo, but they blew one of the easiest layups I’ve ever seen.

No one wanted iMessage when it came out. Making it opt out on iPhones and defaulting made people try it and they started to prefer it when they realized. The opt out was Apple's key to success. Google should have done the same on Android.

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#163
post #4

Reminds me of BBM (blackberry messenger). Only available on their hardware.

I mean the logic is obvious. If you are popular enough you want to keep the platform exclusive. If you aren't then it makes sense to go multi-platform. BlackBerry thought their platform was strong enough and BBM would pull everyone else in. They were of course wrong. It seems like Apple is strong enough to keep iMessage useful even if it is platform limited, and surely some people are buying iPhones for the status-sy…

The bubbles are such a stupid status symbol.

I hate the conspiracy theory that Apple did it intentionally to make iPhone users hate Android. The original iPhone had all green bubbles. The blue was only to differentiate.

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#164
post #110

The reason for not bringing iMessage to Android was because parents could just buy cheap Android handsets for their kids. First of all, why not create a product for that niche (nevermind, we're talking about Apple). But what actually bothers me is the weak mindset. I remember when Apple didn't have such concerns because they were certain that they have the best product and people would buy for that reason. This is go…

I’m not sure your assessment is right. They let iPods run on windows and made a janky version of iTunes for windows so it was operable, but I don’t think they ever treated iTunes for Windows as a priority. So, sure they knew iPod was best in class, and people bought the product for use with either platform.

But where’s the iMessage analogy? It’s not like all of Android would get better because of iMessage, they couldn’t actually sell anything based on an imesssge port, so where’s there incentive? Where’s the example of them absconding on a principle of “best product wins” when they aren’t selling a product associated with the cross platform access?

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#165

More relevant to the article—does anyone know what Epic plans to argue from this finding? Honestly, I could interpret not bringing iMessage to Android as being decidely anti-monopolistic; they actively tried to avoid capturing the entire market. I’m sure that is not what this evidence is intended to show though.

What benefit would it give Apple to have all of Android users on iMessage? It’s not like they inject ads into your messaging streams/ they left money on the table to benefit another product?

To me, forcing them to make an Android version of iMessage would be pretty anti-American. Domestically they have 20-30% market share, and there’s 0 revenue to gain from an Android version except the tenuous concept that maybe they could use it to upsell someone to iOS? Idk, I agree with you here. Doesn’t seem clear to me why they should be obligated or compelled to ship iMessage for Android.

Sure, Apple Music, because there’s a fee attached to it, but do you think Android people would pay a few bucks a month for Android? Could they upsell it to another product like cloud storage? Would they a) want the scrutiny that comes with and iCloud upsell b) security risk from enabling iCloud on an unmanaged platform

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#166
post #164
post #110

The reason for not bringing iMessage to Android was because parents could just buy cheap Android handsets for their kids. First of all, why not create a product for that niche (nevermind, we're talking about Apple). But what actually bothers me is the weak mindset. I remember when Apple didn't have such concerns because they were certain that they have the best product and people would buy for that reason. This is go…

I’m not sure your assessment is right. They let iPods run on windows and made a janky version of iTunes for windows so it was operable, but I don’t think they ever treated iTunes for Windows as a priority. So, sure they knew iPod was best in class, and people bought the product for use with either platform. But where’s the iMessage analogy? It’s not like all of Android would get better because of iMessage, they could…

Having iOS as a first class citizen and accepting the fact that Android users exist and your paying customers don't have to bother with the fragmented messenger landscape. All while creating the de-facto standard for smartphone messaging (that is now Whatsapp).

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#167
post #116

> I am concerned [that] iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones. We're an iPhone family, but damn is that lame. How about: make the best product. Don't coerce people into buying an iPhone. It drives me crazy how fractured messaging has become. Here's a recent example. My non-technical aunt tried to send a group iMessage to my wife and me. For me…

> but only a single phone # I believe you can have multiple phone numbers associated with your iCloud account if they are a physical number. This is assuming you have a phone that's capable of dual-sim or if you have a second iPhone linked to your iCloud account. The latter is what I do when to make myself available when traveling abroad.

I have a dual sim iPhone 11. Everytime I switch off the main sim and use the other on abroad, imessage breaks and I have to use WhatsApp. Never manages to link two phone numbers, less so to use it without the correct sim...

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#168
post #116

> I am concerned [that] iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones. We're an iPhone family, but damn is that lame. How about: make the best product. Don't coerce people into buying an iPhone. It drives me crazy how fractured messaging has become. Here's a recent example. My non-technical aunt tried to send a group iMessage to my wife and me. For me…

I still have this problem where my mom's iMac will occasionally send a SMS (sent via macOS Messages and delivered via her iphone) to the email address in my contact, rather than my phone number. Somehow it thinks that xxxx@yyy.com is a phone number, but +1xxxxxxxxxx isn't. Tmobile then takes the SMS and forwards it to xxxx@yyy.com, as happened to you. So frustrating at how hard this is for Apple to get right. I don't even have iMessage, but I guess that's the point -- interoperability, where it exists with Apple products, will be usable enough to get started but just buggy enough to be infuriating.

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean the logic is obvious. If you are popular enough you want to keep the platform exclusive. If you aren't then it makes sense to go multi-platform. BlackBerry thought their platform was strong enough and BBM would pull everyone else in. They were of course wrong. It seems like Apple is strong enough to keep iMessage useful even if it is platform limited, and surely some people are buying iPhones for the status-sy…

The bubbles are such a stupid status symbol. I hate the conspiracy theory that Apple did it intentionally to make iPhone users hate Android. The original iPhone had all green bubbles. The blue was only to differentiate.

Of course they are, but Apple loves status symbols. To a large extent they are a fashion company as well as a tech company. For example the constantly rotating design or Animoji. (only available on the expensive model of course!)

Re: Eddy Cue wanted to bring iMessage to Android in 2013

#170
post #157
post #116

> I am concerned [that] iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones. We're an iPhone family, but damn is that lame. How about: make the best product. Don't coerce people into buying an iPhone. It drives me crazy how fractured messaging has become. Here's a recent example. My non-technical aunt tried to send a group iMessage to my wife and me. For me…

I agree with everything you said. WhatsApp is the best right now and that makes me very sad.

I use all messengers and don’t care. But tbh telegram is my favorite one. Slickest, cleanest, fast with tons of features and good UX
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