Google’s ongoing efforts to turn the court of public opinion against Apple’s persistence with its proprietary iMessage tech now includes expressing sympathy for iPhone users lumbered with an app most of them love.
Hiroshi Lockheimer says he feels bad for iPhone users because Apple refuses to embrace the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol used by the Android stock Messages app.
As a result, traditional texting between iPhone and Android users remains a messy experience with blue and green bubbles all over the shop, as well as the absence of proper reactions and read receipts.
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Lockheimer, Google’s senior vice president of platforms and ecosystems, believes iPhone users are now dealing with degraded features and security when texting with Android users because of the pitfalls of traditional SMS, which uses the same ancient cellular infrastructure as phone calls.
Videos and images shared between iPhone and Android users look terrible and Google sees the solution as Apple dropping iMessage and embracing RCS. Apple knows that users love iMessage and probably enjoy the fact that Android users don’t have it, some of the time. Lockheimer, speaking to 9to5Google, reckons its time for Apple to cave.
“Since you mentioned Apple, I’ll just mention, they talk about how privacy is a human right and how important that is to them. I feel like, “look here’s a technology that’s available now…” Now I just feel bad for the iPhone users who are going to experience the degraded features, it would be great if they could bring that to them,” Lockheimer told the site.
“And better security for them as well. You know Android users are fine, they’re texting each other with total security and all that stuff, and now it’s kind of bizarre because now when they interact with iPhone’s we’re going to have to deal with a degraded security experience.”
Do you want Apple to cave in and embrace RCS for the good of messaging harmony? Or are you an iPhone user who gets a kick out of having a way better messaging app than your Android pals? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
