Slashdot Mirror
Apple Explains Why iMessage Isn't Coming To Android (networkworld.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Network World: Ahead of Apple's WWDC keynote this year, one of the more bizarre and sketchy rumors we saw take shape claimed that Apple was planning to deliver iMessage to Android. As is typically the case, the rumor mill took this somewhat ridiculous rumor and ran with it. The only problem is that some people were so busy trying to figure out the ramifications of iMessage hitting Android that they didn't take a step back and try and figure out if this is something Apple would even contemplate in the first place. Remember, every move Apple makes is strategic and geared towards making more money, either via device sales or software. That being the case, iMessage on Android would not only be a free app, but it would also eliminate a user-experience advantage of iOS. Interestingly enough, Walt Mossberg of The Verge asked a senior Apple executive about the rumor whereupon the nameless executive all but indicated that iMessage will never be coming to Android. Walt Mossberg writes: "First, he said, Apple considers its own user base of 1 billion active devices to provide a large enough data set for any possible AI learning the company is working on. And, second, having a superior messaging platform that only worked on Apple devices would help sales of those device -- the company's classic (and successful) rationale for years."
My experience has been that iOS users who have friends with non-iOS devices tend to migrate away from iMessage after a while, in favor of something they can talk to all of their friends on. This seems to happen faster when one or more of their friends has a mix of iOS and Android devices coupled with one or more non-Mac computers, as iMessage becomes an unreliable[1] means of communicating with them relative to, well, practically anything else.
[1] Are they near their iPad? Did they see my message? Maybe I should just Skype them. Why did I bother with iMessage in the first place when it's only on one of the four devices they could be currently checking?
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.