Apple’s iMessage Will Not Kill Anything; Here's Why?

Obvious point, yet horribly argued.

It is clear to everybody that iMessage is not a platform-independent to send messages today. Thus, there is still a need for BBM, SMS, and all.

However, the distribution of people who own iPhones is not as uniform as the author seems to imply. Sure, maybe there are only 5 iPhones for every 95 other phones; however, I know my girlfriend, parents, and close friends all own at least one iOS device. The service will remove the need for SMS for those who are in the same situation, and the extent to which this happens is not addressed here in any valuable form.

It is also true that GTalk may have a higher usage, and I'd be thrilled if iMessage worked with GTalk (I think). However, iMessage will be tightly integrated into the Phone application, which makes it much more convenient to use than any other IM service on the iPhone. Maybe iMessage/GTalk interoperability would make iMessage more effective; this doesn't mean as it stands iMessage will be ineffective.