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How would Apple profit from that ? Security aware and all, Apple is still a "for profit" company, and by their own estimates they process > 200.000 iMessages pe

How would Apple profit from that ? Security aware and all, Apple is still a "for profit" company, and by their own estimates they process > 200.000 iMessages per second (https://www.businessinsider.com/eddy-cue-200k-imessages-per-second-2016-2?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/eddy-cue-200k-imessages-per-...). Increasing the user base would surely increase the number of messages sent, putting additional load on the server infrastructure, making it more expensive to run, and all without making any profit from it. Apple is much more interested in providing you with a relatively secure messaging platform on their platform, which in turn can attract more users to their platform, increasing their revenue through sold devices.

xoa 6y ago
>How would Apple profit from that ? ...by charging for it? Still "free" for iOS/macOS users (paid for as part of hardware purchase), $6/year for Android users (or whatever infrastructure with some margin costs). I mean, I have no idea exactly what uptake would be like versus "free" (paid for with your data). But given increasing awareness of the issue, and network effects from existing iOS/macOS userbase, it'd be a significant option. And there are billions of Android devices, even at Apple's scale potentially billions of dollars are year for minimal effort isn't nothing. I mean, I find this objection (which seems to come up multiple times, every single time iMessage-on-Android comes up) to be just so weird. Like it's some huge mystery how anyone could possibly make money from a software service. You can make money from a software service by... charging money for said service. And as something that's purely network-based, even the normal concerns about piracy and the like on Android are irrelevant. Apple can see if it's a paying account and what devices it's being used on server-side.
- ubermonkey 6y ago
  It's not just about "could Apple create a model where they profit." It's about what they'd lose if they DID go this route. Apple is (mostly) a hardware company. They make money by selling phones, computers, and related bits like watches. They have traditionally provided a great user experience partly because they control the software AND the hardware on their devices. So sure, deciding to release an Android app for iMessage might be profitable, but it doesn't serve their overall goals (selling more hardware), and time & treasure spent on the initiative are resources NOT available to work on the next Mac, the next phone, the next iPad, etc. Ergo, it seems super easy to me to understand why there is no Android iMessage, and why there likely won't ever be one.
  - toper-centage 6y ago
    Not just that, but Apple has a brand to defend. In all their keynotes, maybe excluding the first iPhone, they don't even acknowledge other phones. You should buy the next iPhone because its better than the previous, not because its better than an android. And because of that stance, they spend zero effort in supporting other platforms. And apparently... That works just fine!
    - 8fingerlouie 6y ago
      As an old fart that has used just about every operating system out there since MS DOS 3.0, and has served my time for a couple of years as developer for a Linux distribution, I find Apple has a surprising ability to make things work. I switched to Macs with the Intel transition as I realized that the Linux on the (mainstream) desktop would be Macs and smartphones. I’ve never looked back. If you’re willing to live with the defaults, learn the new features, and stop trying to make the system behave like it “always has”, chances are it will treat you very well, but you have to be open to change. Yes it’s vendor lock in, but everything Apple integrates so tightly that even as I’m typing this message on my iPad, I can just press a button and have the unposted comment sent to my Mac to continue there. When you get used to it, other operating systems seems so simple. I use windows 10 at work, and it still amazes me that the last functional search bar in the launcher was in windows 95. Windows 10 has a nasty habit of replacing my (correctly spelled) search result with a link to edge / bing.

xoa 6y ago

>How would Apple profit from that ? ...by charging for it? Still "free" for iOS/macOS users (paid for as part of hardware purchase), $6/year for Android users (or whatever infrastructure with some margin costs). I mean, I have no idea exactly what uptake would be like versus "free" (paid for with your data). But given increasing awareness of the issue, and network effects from existing iOS/macOS userbase, it'd be a significant option. And there are billions of Android devices, even at Apple's scale potentially billions of dollars are year for minimal effort isn't nothing. I mean, I find this objection (which seems to come up multiple times, every single time iMessage-on-Android comes up) to be just so weird. Like it's some huge mystery how anyone could possibly make money from a software service. You can make money from a software service by... charging money for said service. And as something that's purely network-based, even the normal concerns about piracy and the like on Android are irrelevant. Apple can see if it's a paying account and what devices it's being used on server-side.

ubermonkey 6y ago
It's not just about "could Apple create a model where they profit." It's about what they'd lose if they DID go this route. Apple is (mostly) a hardware company. They make money by selling phones, computers, and related bits like watches. They have traditionally provided a great user experience partly because they control the software AND the hardware on their devices. So sure, deciding to release an Android app for iMessage might be profitable, but it doesn't serve their overall goals (selling more hardware), and time & treasure spent on the initiative are resources NOT available to work on the next Mac, the next phone, the next iPad, etc. Ergo, it seems super easy to me to understand why there is no Android iMessage, and why there likely won't ever be one.
- toper-centage 6y ago
  Not just that, but Apple has a brand to defend. In all their keynotes, maybe excluding the first iPhone, they don't even acknowledge other phones. You should buy the next iPhone because its better than the previous, not because its better than an android. And because of that stance, they spend zero effort in supporting other platforms. And apparently... That works just fine!
  - 8fingerlouie 6y ago
    As an old fart that has used just about every operating system out there since MS DOS 3.0, and has served my time for a couple of years as developer for a Linux distribution, I find Apple has a surprising ability to make things work. I switched to Macs with the Intel transition as I realized that the Linux on the (mainstream) desktop would be Macs and smartphones. I’ve never looked back. If you’re willing to live with the defaults, learn the new features, and stop trying to make the system behave like it “always has”, chances are it will treat you very well, but you have to be open to change. Yes it’s vendor lock in, but everything Apple integrates so tightly that even as I’m typing this message on my iPad, I can just press a button and have the unposted comment sent to my Mac to continue there. When you get used to it, other operating systems seems so simple. I use windows 10 at work, and it still amazes me that the last functional search bar in the launcher was in windows 95. Windows 10 has a nasty habit of replacing my (correctly spelled) search result with a link to edge / bing.