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Seems like the article offers a pretty clear explanation for why they haven't: > Though Google won’t say so, I think that road is fundamentally too dangerous f

Seems like the article offers a pretty clear explanation for why they haven't: > Though Google won’t say so, I think that road is fundamentally too dangerous for the company. One would think that Google has more than enough leverage to simply create something that the carriers would have to accept whether they like it or not. What are Verizon and Deutsche Telecom and all the rest going to do, switch to Tizen in protest? Please. > But the truth is that these carriers have points of leverage over Google that go beyond choosing to sell Android phones. Android is, after all, open source. And though Google can (and does) dictate some requirements in order to include Google services, it can’t dictate them all. A carrier could set Bing as the default search, for example, or set up its own RCS client as the default texting app. > Perhaps Google could have gotten away with a proprietary, baked-in messaging protocol back in 2011 when iMessage launched. But in 2018, carriers aren’t fond of iMessage, and they aren’t going to take kindly to a similar service acting as the default, especially on Android, the globally dominant operating system.

neverfarious 9y ago
If it's true that Google was prevented from making a good iMessage-type service by pressure from the carriers, it seems like a market failure. If Google was actually willing to build something and users wanted it, but some third party had leverage to prevent Google from doing that, it seems like the market is broken. I don't know if this actually happened (obviously), but it really bothers me if it did. It makes me want to boycott RCS and the carriers somehow. I don't want to reward them for winning the battle to make my Android phone less useful, less encrypted, and easier to toll.
- Eridrus 9y ago
  One fun fact I have heard is that the Android Messages app did not receive updates through the play store because carriers wanted to retain control. If you're in the US, you could switch to Project Fi. I think the crypto thing is less about carriers own opinions and more about the regulation that carrier provided services face. Hopefully it will at least have an encrypted OTT mode the same way that Allo does. Let's also not forget how carriers have hampered Android updates.
thirdsun 9y ago
I can't imagine that this is actually the reason. SMS has long been replaced by iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram and similar services. Nobody uses or values SMS these days and the carriers know it, which is why the service comes free with pretty much any (european) contract. So if messaging already happens outside of the carriers' reach, why would those carriers be upset if Google added another entry to the list of services that have replaced SMS?

neverfarious 9y ago

If it's true that Google was prevented from making a good iMessage-type service by pressure from the carriers, it seems like a market failure. If Google was actually willing to build something and users wanted it, but some third party had leverage to prevent Google from doing that, it seems like the market is broken. I don't know if this actually happened (obviously), but it really bothers me if it did. It makes me want to boycott RCS and the carriers somehow. I don't want to reward them for winning the battle to make my Android phone less useful, less encrypted, and easier to toll.

Eridrus 9y ago
One fun fact I have heard is that the Android Messages app did not receive updates through the play store because carriers wanted to retain control. If you're in the US, you could switch to Project Fi. I think the crypto thing is less about carriers own opinions and more about the regulation that carrier provided services face. Hopefully it will at least have an encrypted OTT mode the same way that Allo does. Let's also not forget how carriers have hampered Android updates.

thirdsun 9y ago

I can't imagine that this is actually the reason. SMS has long been replaced by iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram and similar services. Nobody uses or values SMS these days and the carriers know it, which is why the service comes free with pretty much any (european) contract. So if messaging already happens outside of the carriers' reach, why would those carriers be upset if Google added another entry to the list of services that have replaced SMS?