Even without direct monetization, there could be advantages for Apple? - It’d be compelling for a lot of Android users and would probably be widely installed.

Even without direct monetization, there could be advantages for Apple? - It’d be compelling for a lot of Android users and would probably be widely installed. This would give Apple a strong foothold onto Android devices. They could perhaps build on that for their services. - For iOS users, this might make features like Apple Pay and sending songs more universal/reliable, which might provide more of a moat against Venmo, Android Pay, Spotify, etc. It’d also give a better privacy/security story if your messages aren’t converted to SMS. - If it was sufficiently popular, it could provide Apple with a credible retaliatory move in case Google yanked something important from iOS. - It would weaken the value proposition for important competitors like Facebook. Why let scary FB messenger on your phone if you can talk to everyone over iMessage? I know nothing and this is just spitballing. Maybe nothing here outweighs keeping it exclusive to iOS, but Apple getting some of their software used far and wide seems like it could have real upside.