People at Google, Android may have finally lost their patience with Apple. Some top executives of the company have openly rebuked Apple for closing their messaging ecosystem. Apple has been rejecting the new messaging standard called Rich Communication Services (RCS). This communicating system aims to standardize SMS services across platforms and bring new, modern features to normal messaging.
Hiroshi Lockheimer who is the Senior Vice President of Platforms and Ecosystems at Google, sent out a tweet tagging a story about Apple’s iMessage being extremely popular amidst “tweens”. He directly equated Apple’s behaviour with bullying and also claimed that this rejection of RCS by the American iPhone maker does not sit well with their marketing ideas of humanity and equity.
In his tweet he said, “Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing. The standards exist today to fix this.”
Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing. The standards exist today to fix this. https://t.co/MiQqMUOrgn
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) January 8, 2022
iMessage should not benefit from bullying. Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. Let’s fix this as one industry. 💚💙 https://t.co/18k8RNGQw4
— Android (@Android) January 8, 2022
Other Google executives also shared Lockheimer’s tweet. The official Android account on Twitter also re-tweeted his message with a direct jab at iMessages. The tweet read, “iMessage should not benefit from bullying. Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. Let’s fix this as one industry.”
What is RCS?
The Rich Communication Services is like the next step in SMS evolution. Since even before the advent of smartphones, SMS has been the go-to default messaging service. The introduction of RCS has long been in the pipeline and it plans to bring some WhatsApp-like features to SMS, which includes, typing indicators, chat bubbles, read receipts, and also the capability to send high-quality images. Generally, the messaging service will be much quicker.
If Apple decides to open up to the new RCS standard, iMessage won’t have the exclusivity of these features. The rebuke coming from Google’s top-tier executives indicates that the search giant has had its fill with Apple’s policy on iMessage.
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