Should you iMessage someone using their mobile # or applied?

[212rikanmofo]

I'm still confused about this iMessaging thing. I know with the introduction of iOS 6 and Mountain Lion that Apple has finally unified the mobile # of people with iPhones to their apple ids. So does this mean that from this point on that to start a new iMessage to someone that we should use their apple id so that it goes to all their devices that's associated with it, such as their iPad, Macs, iPod's, iPhone?

I want to inform my friends and family if thats the case. For example if I'm on my MacBook and want to send a message to my wife who also has an iPad, iPhone and a MacBook that I should do so using her apple id so that it will go to all her devices? So will the option of sending an iMessage via a person's mobile # still be available or is Apple replacing that altogether in place of the unified apple id system?

I'm hoping for the latter and that they get rid of iMessage via mobile #, cause that just makes things more confusing. I mean what's the point really? If you can use a persons apple id so that it gets sent to all their devices vs using a persons phone number where it only goes to their iPhones.

 

[iLog.Genius]

It shouldn't matter. Even during iMessage beta stages, using either the cell number or AppleID, messages would send/receive more times than none to all devices setup with iCloud. Unifying them just cleans up the contact part a bit.

 

[212rikanmofo]

Well I did a test and when I compose a new message using my friends phone number it only went to his phone. But when I sent it to his apple id, it went to his iPhone, iPad and Mac.

 

[iLog.Genius]

Strange. The only thing I could suggest is to see if you're really sending an iMessage (or is the phone sending it as a text?) and/or the phone is setup to accept iMessage via number in settings. But I can confirm that using either does work/sync across all devices with iCloud (with a bit of lag/delay).