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Apple Has Created 'Detailed Mockups' of iMessage For Android (macrumors.com)
One of the biggest features on iOS that isn't available on Android is iMessage, an instant messaging service that allows users to send information over Wi-Fi, 4G LTE, and other forms of internet access to other iOS or OS X users. Earlier this year, there were been rumors swirling around the possibility of the service coming to Android due to Apple's increased focus on services, "which means opening up certain avenues beyond its own iOS and OS X platforms." Today, Daring Fireball's John Gruber has added fuel to the fire by mentioning that he's "heard from little birdies" that a handful of "detailed mockups" of iMessage for Android have been shared around Apple. MacRumors reports: The user interface of the Android app is said to have gone through numerous designs, from one that looks identical to the version on iOS, to another that has a "pure Material Design," using Google's design language it developed a few years ago. Gruber still thinks iMessage on Android "might happen sooner or later," mainly because of iMessage's new monetized Messages App Store, which could net Apple increased income in its already profitable services category if it translated the app to Android. Apple undoubtedly created mockups for all types of products and services, the vast majority of which never make it to release, and it's unclear exactly how far along the iMessage for Android preliminary designs were at the time of their circulation through Apple, or when exactly that occurred. Still, Gruber notes that while an Android version of iMessage "may never see the light of day," even the existence of such mockups "strongly suggests that there's no 'of course not' to it."
How is such a thing possible? As an Android user, that just blows my mind.
Includes square with a header labeled "iMessage"
Anyone who has a green bubble is a poor idiot and not worth your time. smh.
but no thanks
WTF would I want this? If I am an android user why would I want to install iMessage?
Put it this way, prior to this story I didn't even know it existed....
my kid wanted an iPhone. It's their biggest source of vendor lock in. And what would they get out of Android users installing the app? Best case scenario $1.99. Even porting iTunes would be a waste. Apple's a hardware company, not a music company. The only possible benefit to Apple is to draw people into the fold, and they just don't need to do that.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Some of the last things keeping me on Apple crap is Messages and FaceTime because I use them to communicate with friends and family. Same reason for why I still have a FB account.
Can't wait to get off of all this shit!
There is a propensity, almost cocksure, that a leading manufacturer can afford to make a non-universal part, greatly aggravating its target market. In the end, we hate that assumption and begin to vote with our wallets.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Smart people usually spend slack-ish time examining things they *might* want to do. It doesn't mean they *do* want to do those things, but one thing most of us know by now is whenever you're asked to do something, "in a hurry" is the default pace, and yet "slapdash" is not acceptable. So you don't want to be in a position where you use time figuring out how to use Material Design that you need for coding or testing.
And even if you don't use those little hypothetical forays, they're still valuable in understanding your competition, both weaknesses and things you can learn from them.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
How about iTunes for Android TV, Android, and Chromecast? You know, so that people can enjoy the movies they paid for?
The competing product from Google and Facebook are both available on iOS and Android. Add to that the fact that Android owns so much more of the smart phone market than Apple.
Given both of those facts, Apple probably realizes that in order to keep their customers using this product instead jumping ship to something that is supported on both their platform and the most popular platform in the world, they have to offer their product(s) on that platform as well.
What is the point of this? As I understand it, iMessage simply routes your SMS messages over the internet instead of sending a standard SMS, when it detects the recipient phone number is running iMessage. Does it have other features besides that, and all the standard SMS stuff? We can already do that easily with Google Voice, Hangouts, Allo, Facebook, and a plethora of other closed services. What we really need is *standards compliance*.
I personally despise anything that keeps the ancient SMS standard alive, but it's sadly the best standard we have. It's just pathetic that these companies all refuse to inter-operate.
Unexpected Finger In the Android
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Yeah but Allo sucks. Sorry, but I have no compelling reason to use it over Hangouts, iMessage, SMS, Google Chat, or any other chat program (Facebook Messenger comes to mind as well). And Duo - I was let down. I had hoped Google had figured out what secret sauce Apple uses in Facetime to get such effing awesome quality over just LTE or 3G. No one else comes close. I thought, "Hey, Google is made up of engineers, really smart ones too! Surely they can figure it out." I was wrong. I like seeing who's calling me before answering, but that's about the only innovation there, and the call quality isn't up to par.
. Define sqrt(x) as something really evil like (x / rand()), and bury it deep. Watch your coworkers go nuts.
Personally, I have no interest in sending iMessages to Android users. There is exactly one person on the planet that I have an interest in sending instant messages to, and she has an iPhone.
I have all text/SMS messages blocked from reaching my phone via my carrier. I only wish I could create a "whitelist" of people who are allowed to send me an iMessage (only one person would be whitelisted). Having this feature is something I'd pay for.
I work in a lead shielded nuclear bunker and having my cell radio on all day just eats my battery. Instead, I use iMessage to text to the happy Apple folks and Google Hangouts to text to the people with the exploding phones, flip phones, and even one person with a Windows 10 Phone. It's all good, since I can text over wifi for free. I have wished for a iMessage to non-iMessage gateway but none exist.
Most people are happy to pay crazy phone bills each month, but I limit mine to $20 or less each month with TING.
Charging for SMS is a huge scam by the phone companies. Anytime I can communicate without them the happier (and richer) I am.
I won't wade into the iPhone vs. non-iPhone battle, but I just picked up an iPhone 6S and can't believe the power in that phone. I am old techie from C64/Amiga days and never would have imagined a 2Ghz CPU with a 4K camera on a device that has a 2-day battery life. I realize this is common place today, but all of our phones are a triumph to human engineering. I just wish we could use them for something useful.
Seriously? Allo has failed, it doesn't even have 200k installs after over a month of being out. Compare this hangouts at 2.7m, which they ABANDONED for no good god damn reason and removed threaded SMS view (which was essential graceful SMS fallback). And do you know why? Because Google can't get their shit together. If you buy a Pixel on Google Project Fi, it comes with Allo, Duo, Hangouts, and Messenger. Do you understand how frustrating it is to a consumer when every product created gets dropped? Even /r/Android no longer has any love for Google's bullshit in regards to their messaging apps. The WORST part about all of this is they already had the product: Google Talk. Remember that? Could use it on desktop, had video calling built-in, chat logs. everything except SMS fallback.
As for Facebook messenger, again no SMS fallback and nobody really uses fb anymore for a variety of reasons including security concerns.
There is currently no good Android SMS+messenger app which is why WhatsApp is still so popular, especially in Europe (which I doubt anyone can ever overcome), or Kakao products in Korea. iMessage would be met with happiness by most Android users because despite all the BS Apple does, iMessage is a good product, and is only missing a web interface (or Windows desktop app).
I'm not arguing that either product is better than iMessage, but since when has that been a guaranteed victory in the market? My point is that Apple recognizes that they can lose customers unless they start offering their services on Android in addition to iOS. Time will tell if my theory is right..
they all use whatsapp, facebook messenger, line, snapchat or something else.
what would Apple get out of it? well for one, it would make imessaging a relevant messaging platform.
you see, if Apple users cannot message with non Apple users then the Apple users will also use line, whatsapp, fb messenger or whatever else - and if you're an apple user in a market where most users cannot afford apple products then you either message with nobody or you adapt and use some other app(it's really of no bother to them anyways to use some other app).
basically, if they don't port it over it will become irrelevant even to apple users - or rather it is already an irrelevant piece of software. nobody cares about it, globally.
you cannot vendor lock in with a messaging app at this day and age. it's more like a vendor LOCK OUT.
if you fell for that explanation to buy an iphone for your kid then you got bamboooozled by your kid, sorry. you just wasted approximately 400 bucks, depending on which model you bought. the kid would have been just fine to message with his friends on any other smartphone platform.
like, seriously, you think this is 2001 and you were shopping a blackberry? come on.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I would like iMessage for Windows. My wife can iMessage from laptop (Mac) or phone...I can't because the my laptop is Windows (necessarily so for my work).
Is only like under 10 percent of the market. for messaging app standpoint, those phones DO NOT MATTER AT ALL.
what matters is that majority of the people are buying non-iphones and using messaging apps available on android - this _forces_ iphone users to use another messaging platform as there really isn't a choice. if they don't want their messaging platform to die next year they have to port it over to android. there is no question about it. it's that they either port it over or users will gradually move to something else. it might already be too late for them - in asia it certainly is already a lost game for apple, since everyone, including _all_ apple users, are already tied to some other messaging platforms that _are_ multi platform. ..oh and a far majority if iphones sold is also previous generation iphones. something that western living people seem to totally forget or be unaware of, which makes apples sw cycles even more ridiculously short. I mean, you could buy brand new iphone5s just a few months ago. not refurbished, but brand new. that was the highest selling iphone model at the time, simply due to it's cost(about 240 bucks). it will be obsoleted in os updates maybe later the same fucking year they were still churning them out. that's ridiculous.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
According to the summary, one of the biggest features on IOS is that the messaging program that can't communicate with the outside world. Ok, I guess that might seem like a feature for an Apple fan, they do tend to like living in a bubble.
And now this "feature" is coming to Android. Does that make sense in any way whatsoever? IOS users are going to lose "one of the biggest features" - that the messaging program can't communicate with the outside world, and Android users will get a chance to pay for an app that probably will only allow them to communicate with Apple users (who don't want to communicate with non Apple fans, hence "biggest feature"), and they will still be using texts, Hangouts or Skype to communicate with everybody else.
How does this make sense?
The competing product from Google and Facebook are both available on iOS and Android. Add to that the fact that Android owns so much more of the smart phone market than Apple.
Yes, however iMessage covers not only the iPhone, but every iPad, every iWatch, and every Mac as well. That's a pretty damn big ecosystem.
Yaz
"There were been rumors" - nice grammar there. NOT.
Amused to see the voices in this thread who feel that their opposition to vendor lock-in, or simple dislike for Apple as a company, should overrule the freedoms of others to choose the phone they want.
Supporting others freedom to choose also means that you are not going to agree with their choices,
Freedom is hard
I've switched back and forth from Android and iOS for years. I'm fortunate that my job provides that flexibility. I've used Hangouts stand alone - with Google Voice - and with Google Fi.
I like the way Hangouts synchronizes conversations between devices - delete a conversation on one - and all devices pick up the change.
Unfortunately that is the only thing Hangouts does better than Apple Messages. In every other way, Messages is a better user experience.
It took me years to get all the Apple users around me to install Hangouts - and then teach them how to properly use it. Video and voice calling via Hangouts is harder than it needs to be.
I had high hopes that Google would refine the user experience and make Hangouts the default "all in one" messaging app for Android - a true Messages/Facetime competitor.
The last straw that pushed me back to Apple was the Allo/Duo fiasco. Everyone important in my life uses an iPhone - it was simply easier to go back to Apple.
Google really screwed this up. The executives that created the Messages/Allo/Duo/Hangouts clusterfuck should lose their jobs.
If by 10% of the entire installed base you mean damn big, then yes - it is. Meanwhile, Skype and Whatsapp both cover 100% of the ecosystem - Apple and non-Apple. 100% > 10%...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Wait.. you mean iMessage "shames" the non-iMessage user, even though iMessage is the one that is unable to speak the modern protocols that the other user normally uses whenever he's not stuck with talking to old-school SMS/iMessage users?
It sounds like the green bubble shames iMessage's own lack of multi-protocol support, not the user. The iMessage users should just take Apple's not-so-subtle cue to upgrade to something modern instead of hanging onto the 1990s.
This is like someone in 1985 caressing their proprietary 1960s mainframe and looking down on the upstarts with their "personal" computers. In 1980 that's just a mistake, but in 1985 it's embarrassing. Get with it, iLuddites!
Some of us trust apple with secure messaging versus . . . not because we're fanbois, but because both have vested interests in sharing our information and no firm stance against requests for our data.
Apple, on the other hand, has publicly taken a stand to protect our data, has so far not violated this trust (and this is the most important part) and is thoroughly screwed with regard to this moral authority the very FIRST time it's found out that they violated our trust.
I trust Apple because it's in Apple's best interests for me to trust them.
IMO, porting things like iMessages to Android, or conversely, Hangouts to iOS is a waste. Why would someone download an extra app that does the same thing as an existing app on the phone (that may or may not be removable)? Same thing w/ Google Duo - why offer that on iOS when FaceTime is there?
Better idea would be making the 2 apps more interoperable b/w platforms. Like if I use FaceTime to call someone w/ an Android phone, it should invoke his Duo app. If I use Hangouts to converse w/ a Lumia user, it should invoke his messaging app. In short, let each platform come w/ their native apps, but make those native apps communicate seamlessly w/ their peers on other platforms. That's all we ask
iMessage is an incredibly useful feature for me and most iPhone users I know. I live in quite a rural part of Scotland and many family members have issues with mobile phone reception. The fact that the messages just find their way over wi-fi wherever you are is a huge bonus. My wife wants an iPhone now mainly just for this feature alone.