Comment by chewmieser | Hacker News Reader

Comment by chewmieser | Hacker News Reader

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The US uses SMS/MMS, that won’t change. SMS has limitations, which is why iMessage and RCS were created. When newer functionality is used, the experience between Android and iOS is poor - like poor media quality or stickers not appearing where they’re stuck, etc.

Other issues are limitations by the OS, like Apple doesn’t let you change the group name for non-iMessage groups. Or Apple doesn’t let you replace the entire messaging app, so you’d need multiple apps to cover multiple channels.

The issues and OS limitations leads to things like kids bullying green bubbles (as silly as that sounds).

I don’t think Android users have a right to iMessage but I can understand the need to properly interpolate with each other here and it sounds like RCS will be just that when Apple adopts it.

I think that both Google took too long playing with new messaging apps and Apple took too long to actually want to make this experience better for Android-iPhone communication (which they’ve been pretty clear they’d only do due to pressure, since it helps them sell phones).

The pressure is great. Maybe we’ll actually have a good experience with RCS, but we will see…

> The issues and OS limitations leads to things like kids bullying green bubbles (as silly as that sounds).

That sounds silly, but it's important enough that Apple executives were talking about it ten years ago. See the link from the article at https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1589450766506692609

> In the absence of a strategy to become the primary messaging service...iMessage on Android would serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones

That's from Craig Federighi, who is now the SVP at Apple in charge of all operating systems. If it were a minor silly thing, you probably wouldn't expect it to be talked about at the highest levels at Apple, would you?

> If it were a minor silly thing, you probably wouldn't expect it to be talked about at the highest levels at Apple, would you?

Why not? I’ve been in C-level discussions where dark purple versus a slightly darker shade of purple turned into a weeklong shit show.

Was it discussing enabling market lock-in via a darker/lighter shade?

If so, it may have been important!

> Was it discussing enabling market lock-in via a darker/lighter shade?

Yes, this is a framing that works for every strategic decision in business.

Yes, but it deserves to be taken more seriously when you are the SVP of the largest software company in the world.

The C-level of a random software company talking about US-wide market lock-in is unlikely to make it work in practice. Apple has a very real chance of doing it.

> Apple has a very real chance of doing it

No, they are nowhere close to locking down messaging.

I listed it specifically because it sounds silly but is actually an important point. Thanks for sharing the link though

Yep, your "as silly as that sounds" was a "it sounds silly, but...".

Honestly, I missed that and my comment came out sounding like a gotcha when it should have just emphasized what you were saying. Sorry!

> like Apple doesn’t let you change the group name for non-iMessage groups

SMS doesn't support the concept of naming a group. That's not an OS limitation.

And yet I can do it with SMS group messages on Android with Google's Messages app.

Are you're sure that's not RCS?

To me it's just applicable from my end on the Android app. It explicitly says the other members don't see the group name.

SMS group messages don't exist.

There's broadcast SMS (where the phone sends the same SMS to multiple people) and MMS groups.

Does MMS support naming groups?

> Maybe we’ll actually have a good experience with RCS, but we will see…

I'll believe it when I see it. Judging from Apple's past behaviour, I wouldn't be surprised if RCS messages will be shown in Comic Sans or something.

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