Gruber: China pushed Apple to implement RCS, not the EU

[zakarhino]

Apparently the primary motivation behind supporting RCS on iPhone was not pressure from the EU or Google's desperate ad campaign, nor was it Apple deciding on their own volition to make their customer's experience better.

It was China. Chinese telecoms have been pushing for RCS to replace SMS/MMS and so the CPC's new 5G smartphone certification requires RCS support:

Chinese carriers have been proponents of RCS for years, and last year, the Chinese government began the process of codifying into law that to achieve certification, new 5G devices will be required to support RCS. (Here’s a good English translation on Reddit of the parts relevant to Apple.) Shockingly, the Chinese government seemingly isn’t concerned that the RCS standard has no provisions for encryption. The little birdies I’ve spoken to all said the same thing: iOS support for RCS is all about China.

from: https://daringfireball.net/2024/02/eu_rcs_imessage

Thanks China!

 

[aj_niner]

SMS isn't encrypted either. RCS without encryption is just more flexibility over SMS.