He was sued into buying it for way more than it was worth. The first changed announced so far (in addition to printed code reviews by senior Tesla engineers) is to charge a subscription fee for verification.

the imessage model works because its a "status symbol" that actually isn't: the majority of people in America have the blue bubble (and way more among demographics that care). this in turn enables building cool extra features because it's a "status symbol" but actually common enough for them to work, even though both parties have to have an iphone. this produces a network effect, almost like a social media platform..... oh wait