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Apple is free to open the iMessage ecosystem if they'd like to allow Android to send encrypted messages to iPhones as well. The truth is that Apple isn't doing

Apple is free to open the iMessage ecosystem if they'd like to allow Android to send encrypted messages to iPhones as well. The truth is that Apple isn't doing this to help customers identify unencrypted messages. They are doing this for the network effect.

reaperducer 4y ago
They are doing this for the network effect. This is what people in the hate-Apple echo chamber like to chant, but it's wrong. When Apple started doing it, there was no network effect. The color choice was made years before everyone started freaking out about green and blue bubbles. It was done to show that a message went over SMS, and not iMessage at a time when many Americans paid for each SMS sent, but iMessages were data, and thus included in data plans. Blue=free Green=10¢ It served as a warning that you were spending money. I suspect that's why it's green.
- xcrunner529 4y ago
  Before iMessage (yes it existed) all text messages were green. Blue denoted iMessage. There was no evil plan from Apple like bloggers love to conceive for attention - it’s merely what was originally chosen and they wanted to differentiate iMessage when they released it.
  - meragrin_ 4y ago
    You know why they wanted to differentiate iMessage? It caused issues with SMS. They knew it. They wanted an easy out for the incompatibilities. It is a problem with the "plebs" not Apple. The "plebs" were just holding their phones wrong. After all, even iPhone users don't know how to hold their phone. How can "plebs" be expected to know how to hold their phones if iPhone user can't? Apple could fix this if they wanted to, but they don't want to. They know it sells phones. It is intentional.
    - xcrunner529 4y ago
      No they did it so you knew when it was in and could use the features. There’s no “issue” with SMS.
      - meragrin_ 4y ago
        Tell that to all the people who cannot respond to group messages sent to them from iPhone users. https://www.android.com/get-the-message/ https://www.android.com/get-the-message/
    - kaba0 4y ago
      SMS quotas and mobile data are two different “budgets” depending on carrier. It would be a huge omission if they didn’t differentiate between them.
- meragrin_ 4y ago
  At what time has data ever been cheaper than SMS? That "Blue=free Green=10¢" would likely only have been true for people on really crummy plans sending a message while connected to Wi-Fi. Data has never been "free". They would have had to show iMessage messages as green when sent over the phone network. It was to mark the "plebs" so the "plebs" would be blamed for any issues rather than Apple.
  - warner25 4y ago
    I think that data plans used to be expensive (I avoided getting a smartphone until 2014 because of the costs), but once you had a data plan for other reasons (e.g. being able to browse the web) then messaging apps were a cheaper way to send a message on the margin. My cheap minutes-only plan with AT&T back in 2008-2011 charged me $0.20 per SMS sent and received, which added up fast with unsolicited messages, but eventually I found the option to just block all SMS to save money (yes, I was just oblivious to whatever people sent me for a couple years, and it probably wasn't good for my social life...).
  - GeekyBear 4y ago
    > At what time has data ever been cheaper than SMS? Phone plans used to come with a limited number of SMS messages per month (or even none), and the rates per SMS if you went over the limit were beyond extortionate. >Since BlackBerry messages are sent as data, users do not incur individual charges for each message as they would through regular SMS texting. While phone companies have introduced bulk texting plans, many options still include caps on the number of individual SMS messages that can be sent. BBM has no such limit. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/why-is-bbm-so-successful-look-to-its-technology/article15042079/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/why-is-bbm-so-suc...
    - josephcsible 4y ago
      > Phone plans used to come with a limited number of SMS messages per month (or even none), and the rates per SMS if you went over the limit were beyond extortionate. But wasn't cellular data priced similarly extortionately back then?
- dzikimarian 4y ago
  Apple executives literally said in the leaked email, that they are doing it for the network effect.
meragrin_ 4y ago
The EU's Digital Markets Act might force that.

reaperducer 4y ago

They are doing this for the network effect. This is what people in the hate-Apple echo chamber like to chant, but it's wrong. When Apple started doing it, there was no network effect. The color choice was made years before everyone started freaking out about green and blue bubbles. It was done to show that a message went over SMS, and not iMessage at a time when many Americans paid for each SMS sent, but iMessages were data, and thus included in data plans. Blue=free Green=10¢ It served as a warning that you were spending money. I suspect that's why it's green.

xcrunner529 4y ago
Before iMessage (yes it existed) all text messages were green. Blue denoted iMessage. There was no evil plan from Apple like bloggers love to conceive for attention - it’s merely what was originally chosen and they wanted to differentiate iMessage when they released it.
- meragrin_ 4y ago
  You know why they wanted to differentiate iMessage? It caused issues with SMS. They knew it. They wanted an easy out for the incompatibilities. It is a problem with the "plebs" not Apple. The "plebs" were just holding their phones wrong. After all, even iPhone users don't know how to hold their phone. How can "plebs" be expected to know how to hold their phones if iPhone user can't? Apple could fix this if they wanted to, but they don't want to. They know it sells phones. It is intentional.
  - xcrunner529 4y ago
    No they did it so you knew when it was in and could use the features. There’s no “issue” with SMS.
    - meragrin_ 4y ago
      Tell that to all the people who cannot respond to group messages sent to them from iPhone users. https://www.android.com/get-the-message/ https://www.android.com/get-the-message/
  - kaba0 4y ago
    SMS quotas and mobile data are two different “budgets” depending on carrier. It would be a huge omission if they didn’t differentiate between them.
meragrin_ 4y ago
At what time has data ever been cheaper than SMS? That "Blue=free Green=10¢" would likely only have been true for people on really crummy plans sending a message while connected to Wi-Fi. Data has never been "free". They would have had to show iMessage messages as green when sent over the phone network. It was to mark the "plebs" so the "plebs" would be blamed for any issues rather than Apple.
- warner25 4y ago
  I think that data plans used to be expensive (I avoided getting a smartphone until 2014 because of the costs), but once you had a data plan for other reasons (e.g. being able to browse the web) then messaging apps were a cheaper way to send a message on the margin. My cheap minutes-only plan with AT&T back in 2008-2011 charged me $0.20 per SMS sent and received, which added up fast with unsolicited messages, but eventually I found the option to just block all SMS to save money (yes, I was just oblivious to whatever people sent me for a couple years, and it probably wasn't good for my social life...).
- GeekyBear 4y ago
  > At what time has data ever been cheaper than SMS? Phone plans used to come with a limited number of SMS messages per month (or even none), and the rates per SMS if you went over the limit were beyond extortionate. >Since BlackBerry messages are sent as data, users do not incur individual charges for each message as they would through regular SMS texting. While phone companies have introduced bulk texting plans, many options still include caps on the number of individual SMS messages that can be sent. BBM has no such limit. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/why-is-bbm-so-successful-look-to-its-technology/article15042079/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/why-is-bbm-so-suc...
  - josephcsible 4y ago
    > Phone plans used to come with a limited number of SMS messages per month (or even none), and the rates per SMS if you went over the limit were beyond extortionate. But wasn't cellular data priced similarly extortionately back then?
dzikimarian 4y ago
Apple executives literally said in the leaked email, that they are doing it for the network effect.

meragrin_ 4y ago

The EU's Digital Markets Act might force that.