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In a birthday put up on Friday, Google continues to courtroom Apple, attempting to get it to undertake RCS. It is nonetheless not prepared, not a regular, and never one thing Google is all-in on itself.
Apple’s merchandise depend on iMessage when commuting with different Apple merchandise, then fall again on SMS for everybody else. Google has been aggressively pushing a more recent commonplace referred to as RCS, nevertheless it is not fairly prepared for primetime.
The most recent push from Google arrives within the type of a condescending weblog put up. It’s almost the thirtieth anniversary of the first-ever SMS textual content, and Google needs Apple to know there’s one thing newer… once more.
“Many of the cellular world is utilizing RCS, however there’s one firm that is dragging its heels,” the weblog put up reads, alluding to Apple. “However after 30 years of SMS texting, it is really time.”
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Google’s three explanation why
The put up offers three causes Apple must get on board with RCS. Nevertheless, the reasoning is not precisely sound.
First, Google cites safety because of end-to-end encryption. Nevertheless, it forgets to say that customers need to ship messages through the Google Messages app for encryption. That, and encryption for group chats is simply obtainable to customers of the Google Messages beta.
Second, Google says RCS allows higher-resolution pictures, video, and extra issues like emoji reactions. Nevertheless, different messaging companies like Sign, WeChat, Fb Messenger, and even iMessage have already got these enhancements. It’s Google’s drawback that Android customers haven’t got the identical profit by default.
Lastly, Google calls RCS an business commonplace. Which it is not, not even shut. Google hasn’t even adopted RCS throughout all of its disparate messaging platforms.
The put up additionally disparages Apple for utilizing SMS as a fallback, regardless of RCS doing the identical. RCS solely works over an web connection, so it is going to fall again to SMS identical to iMessage does when web energy is not adequate.
RCS is not the reply
The muse of this put up is the age of SMS — 30 years. Whereas that is an getting old commonplace that must be changed, it is usually a common one which all the globe advantages from. Irrespective of how embedded RCS, iMessage, or different platforms grow to be, SMS will take a decade or extra to part out fully.
There’s additionally a elementary difficulty with Apple adopting RCS since it’s a direct competing platform with iMessage. Google acts as if RCS is a alternative for SMS, nevertheless it is not — it’s simply one other layer on prime of it.
Apple debuted iMessage as a technique to unify messaging throughout its platforms and take the guesswork away from its customers. Google did not do the identical, and is making it Apple’s drawback.
Hopefully, Google can #GetTheMessage that it’s not Apple’s job to repair messaging on Android merchandise.