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While I’m not a proponent of Apple’s walled garden approach, I think this stuff about bullying over the blue indicator is just Google using something to shame A
by skarz 5y ago
While I’m not a proponent of Apple’s walled garden approach, I think this stuff about bullying over the blue indicator is just Google using something to shame Apple so that Google can get what they want. Even if Apple introduced RCS to their phones to give better compatibility to Android features, the blue indicator would still show that the message was sent with end-to-end encryption which is something RCS doesn’t do according to this article. In my mind, a better solution for Apple would be to release an iMessage app on the Play Store or to work with Google on building a better messaging service that includes those features. But Apple probably won’t do that because it’s actually better for sales if they do have features that allow their users to feel superior to others, as cynical as that sounds.
- thesausageking 5y agoI'd have more sympathy for Google if they hadn't spent the last 20 years creating and killing messaging apps: Google Talk, Plus, Buzz, Wave, Hangouts, Allo, ... And, instead of fixing it, the VP in charge is blaming 12 year old "bullies". iMessage is really good because Apple focused on making a great product.
- xanaxagoras 5y agoOf note is Google never took the plunge on any of these the way Apple did. Which one of those products failed back to SMS messenger for compatibility and provided a default rich communication option like iMessage? They've never tried anything like iMessage, no idea why. It would be a different story if they were goading Apple in public to interoperate with their version of iMessage, beloved and used by all Android users. But this position they're taking here just looks kind of lame.
- nostromo 5y agoBlaming bullies is the new "get out of jail free" card. Google just deployed the same logic to remove dislike counts on YouTube, despite those being valuable for users.
- fundad 5y agoIt's fitting that Google seized on this article that completely ignores that some kids don't have a smartphone at all, the article's author didn't even ask the interviewees about kids without phones being ostracized . This was probably placed by Google's PR dept. Kids without phones may even, gasp, be bullied over it. Wouldn't that mean that Google, Apple and all handset vendors benefit from fear of bullying over not having a phone at all?
- kelnos 5y ago> end-to-end encryption which is something RCS doesn’t do according to this article The article is not quite correct. The base RCS standard does not include E2E encryption, but at least Google's implementation includes it as an extension. Not an ideal situation -- IMO it should be a required-to-implement part of the base -- but it's definitely there for those of us using Google's infra, at least.
- r00fus 5y agoHow does E2EE work if one portion of the chain is not encrypted? Would it only work if both you and your message partner installed the extension? Part of the elegance of iMessage is that E2EE isn't optional.
- sudosysgen 5y agoE2EE is optional, and disabled by default. Out of the box, your iPhone will store your messages in cleartext on Apple servers every time it backs up.
- r00fus 5y agoThis is a twisted way of seeing it. E2EE is mandatory in Messages. Backup is optional - my phone has never seen an iCloud backup (all local backups).
- sudosysgen 5y agoNo, it's not. By default, iMessage messages are stored in cleartext on Apple servers. You need to use an option, to disable iCloud backups, so that this isn't th case. So the messages are only E2EE if you take care to change the options so that they are, otherwise they are not. I don't think I'm twisting it. Pragmatically, unless you fiddle with the options, iMessage won't give you end to end encryption. So I think it's fair to call it optional.