After ruining Android messaging, Google says iMessage is too powerful

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dwrd

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We are constantly told that iOS is hugely outsold by Android. So either those devices are breaking faster and accounting for artificially high looking numbers, or there is no way iOS has a monopoly on anything.

Or, just maybe, there are other countries on Earth that aren't the USA.
 
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499 (542 / -43)
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Back in my online dating days, I did genuinely (more than once!) have women say "ew no thank you" when I texted them and a green bubble popped up on their screen. It's something that even non-tech people will notice and care about, so I'm not surprised to hear that it's causing stress for teens. I'd love to see the broader tech industry coalesce on a modern messaging standard that's device and carrier agnostic, but I'm not holding my breath, especially given Google's history.

Edit: agree that I dodged a bullet. Even at the time my feelings weren't really hurt lol
 
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341 (359 / -18)
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CoreyV

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Messaging should be interoperable, full stop. Cingular was desperate enough for a win that Apple got away with basically hijacking SMS and redirecting what was a standards-based service to their own servers. That's what made it so popular, it was the default and it seamlessly replaced SMS between iPhones. Google would have had to have carrier support to do the same and they wouldn't or couldn't get it.

Either Apple needs to open iMessage to Android users, or they need to support RCS. It's really not acceptable for them to do neither.

This is not an accurate history of these messaging services. The carriers had and have nothing to do with iMessage. Apple doesn't need a carrier's permission or co-operation. Google could have an equal system if they wanted.
 
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344 (357 / -13)

panton41

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Back in my online dating days, I did genuinely (more than once!) have women say "ew no thank you" when I texted them and a green bubble popped up on their screen. It's something that even non-tech people will notice and care about, so I'm not surprised to hear that it's causing stress for teens. I'd love to see the broader tech industry coalesce on a modern messaging standard that's device and carrier agnostic, but I'm not holding my breath, especially given Google's history.

Sounds like you dodged a bullet. If a woman is so shallow they'll reject someone because of the brand phone they have then they're not worth dating,
 
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448 (482 / -34)

Jeff S

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I think part of the problem is that Google is depending too much on the geriatric RCS. I'm not saying don't support RCS at all. . . support it as a least common denominator, but, really, Google should have just been trying to get whatsapp, apple, etc to agree to an end-to-end encrypted standard, modern protocol that just runs over the top. I think 3g/LTE/5G coverage has become good enough that you can mostly depend on users having data access almost all of the time.

SMS was important when it wasn't the case that users would even have useable data in a lot of places, but they would always have at least voice and SMS. Sure, fall back to SMS/MMS when absolutely necessary, but just design the app to mostly be used with full IPv6/v4 data transport. Implement all the common features in a standard protocol, and encourage whatsapp and imessage to federate.

I mean, whatsapp/signal already use a basically standardized protocol, right?
 
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77 (100 / -23)

opiooqio

Smack-Fu Master, in training
91
imessage is only a thing in the US. Everywhere else is either SMS or whatsapp.

Well in Australia Apples market share has grown to 45.7% according to the Australian Financial Review. I don't know what point your trying to make, let me guess that Android is solely used outside the U.S. Hate to break it to you, but you're wrong.

Annecdotally my network of fam & friends is team blue bubble. Also I tried the green bubble phones and did not like them, so I switched back.
 
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66 (180 / -114)

dwrd

Ars Tribunus Militum
2,282
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Back in my online dating days, I did genuinely (more than once!) have women say "ew no thank you" when I texted them and a green bubble popped up on their screen. It's something that even non-tech people will notice and care about, so I'm not surprised to hear that it's causing stress for teens. I'd love to see the broader tech industry coalesce on a modern messaging standard that's device and carrier agnostic, but I'm not holding my breath, especially given Google's history.

Sounds like those fine ladies saved you a lot of trouble, and at least the price of dinner.
 
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201 (211 / -10)
Teens and college students said they dread the ostracism that comes with a green text.

Oh my God. Reading this makes me cranky and old.

Billy’s text has a green balloon! Billy’s text has a green balloon. Na! Na! Na!”

“Don’t invite Billy to the party. His texts have a green balloon.”

“This table is for the cool kids. Green balloons sit over at the loser’s table.”
 
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100 (112 / -12)

Dynedain

Smack-Fu Master, in training
64
Messaging should be interoperable, full stop. Cingular was desperate enough for a win that Apple got away with basically hijacking SMS and redirecting what was a standards-based service to their own servers. That's what made it so popular, it was the default and it seamlessly replaced SMS between iPhones. Google would have had to have carrier support to do the same and they wouldn't or couldn't get it.

Either Apple needs to open iMessage to Android users, or they need to support RCS. It's really not acceptable for them to do neither.

Google didn’t need carrier support. They could have done the exact same thing as Apple and used their messaging client to redirect known Android user’s messages through Google’s servers and unknown users through SMS, same as Apple.

Instead (as this article rightfully explains) Google chased a policy of fragmented messaging clients where Apple focused on unification. That’s a business decision pure and simple, and Google made the wrong choice.
 
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517 (530 / -13)

shellac

Ars Scholae Palatinae
917
Correct, the solution exists, and it is called Signal.

Signal is my main texting app these days. But interoperability is its Achilles' heel. Moxie and co. need to stabilize the feature set and make it an open protocol asap.
Also: please drop the phone number thing, and make the desktop app feel less like an barely functional afterthought.
 
Upvote
231 (232 / -1)
Teens and college students said they dread the ostracism that comes with a green text.

Oh my God. Reading this makes me cranky and old.

Billy’s text has a green balloon! Billy’s text has a green balloon. Na! Na! Na!”

“Don’t invite Billy to the party. His texts have a green balloon.”

“This table is for the cool kids. Green balloons sit over at the loser’s table.”


Nah its more like “80% of all socializing is either done on the phone or organized through the phone, often in iOS groupchats, so being excluded from group chats is ostracizing & isolating.”
 
Upvote
191 (201 / -10)
Teens and college students said they dread the ostracism that comes with a green text.

Oh my God. Reading this makes me cranky and old.

Billy’s text has a green balloon! Billy’s text has a green balloon. Na! Na! Na!”

“Don’t invite Billy to the party. His texts have a green balloon.”

“This table is for the cool kids. Green balloons sit over at the loser’s table.”


Nah its more like “80% of all socializing is either done on the phone or organized through the phone, often in iOS groupchats, so being excluded from group chats is ostracizing & isolating.”

It can also be a status symbol. "All the cool kids with rich parents have iPhones" and such.
 
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50 (75 / -25)

Apparition

Ars Scholae Palatinae
845
Correct, the solution exists, and it is called Signal.

Signal is my main texting app these days. But interoperability is its Achilles' heel. Moxie and co. need to stabilize the feature set and make it an open protocol asap.

Moxie is out as of next month.
 
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59 (59 / 0)

Andrewcw

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19,019
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Why the hell is Google Voice mixed in with this? It's not a messaging service. It is an actual working system that routes phone calls and text messages. Sure it might not do MMS. But it's not part of the whole did not take off lets make a new messenger system.

Either Apple needs to open iMessage to Android users, or they need to support RCS. It's really not acceptable for them to do neither.

If they were forced to they'd support RCS. Which will still make it a Green Vs Blue text bubble world.
 
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79 (86 / -7)

freeskier93

Ars Centurion
373
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imessage is only a thing in the US. Everywhere else is either SMS or whatsapp.

Well in Australia Apples market share has grown to 45.7% according to the Australian Financial Review. I don't know what point your trying to make, let me guess that Android is solely used outside the U.S. Hate to break it to you, but you're wrong.

Annecdotally my network of fam & friends is team blue bubble. Also I tried the green bubble phones and did not like them, so I switched back.

They aren't talking about Android vs. iOS, they are saying people who use iPhones outside the US don't use iMessage. I don't live outside the US so I don't know how true that is, but I've commonly heard this.
 
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53 (57 / -4)