The iMessage Issue and Apple

[Mr Andreas]

I owned a new iPhone 5s for 1 week before the battery failed and I was allowed to replace it with whatever I wanted. So far so "good." I then went back to Android. Bliss. However, I am now cursed by the iMessage fault that is plaguing iPhone users, i.e., although I am shown on Apple's internal system that I am disconnected from the iMessage service, their servers keep returning that I am still connected. This forces EVERY iPhone that is connected to iMessage (most of them), to think that messages directed to me should be channeled through iMessage instead of being sent as an SMS message, i.e., the message NEVER arrives since I don't have iMessage on my end, it is proprietary Apple technology! Just think what this means for business people trying to send messages to other business people that are affected? There could be potentially thousands and thousandth of lost business deals because of Apple. Did I hear lawsuit? Anyone?

Is the iPhone a reliable business tool? Absolutely not with such a HUGE flaw.

Business is only one problem, but what about not being able to receive messages from friends and family? No. This is completely unacceptable.

To add further insult to injury, Apple's workaround is, for an affected user, to have them ask that an iPhone user disconnect from the iMessage service and sends messages through SMS only. That is an unreasonable request. Just think of a person asking a fresh acquaintance to fiddle with their phone's settings in this security conscious world. What is the acquaintance going to think of such an unprofessional request? Such a request on Apple's part is completely unacceptable and unprofessional.

Apple, implement your own workarounds for this issue and don't try to pass the buck. Reboot your iMessage servers to flush the cache (which is what I have been told by the highest point of support within Apple is the possible issue) or write some code to flush the cache. Do something and do something NOW!

P.S. I have spent ALL morning talking to the "highest point of contact" within Apple that a consumer can reach. I've tried to get higher, to Tim, the CEO, in fact. Why? Because I want to discuss this issue with people who have the power to act not just push me into the pile with the rest. I want this issue resolved or at least worked-around by Apple, and I want it resolved/worked-around NOW!


-Andreas

 

[phoenixsan]

I....

fully agree on your disgust with this "iMessage-Gate". Hurting Apple and getting customers out the shell....

Really, a company with thousands of millions of dollars in cash would solve this mess presto. I am not getting into a discussion on some unforgettable issue. Sure, with this fault, the iPhone is not a viable bussiness solution. Or even a personal one. Not all the people want or can have Apple hardware (altough Apple would like the contrary). I think even a claim had been made in courts, regarding this issue. But in search about an objective POV, we Apple users must read the "little things" in our EULAS and Service terms....

 

[Mr Andreas]

fully agree on your disgust with this "iMessage-Gate". Hurting Apple and getting customers out the shell....

Really, a company with thousands of millions of dollars in cash would solve this mess presto. I am not getting into a discussion on some unforgettable issue. Sure, with this fault, the iPhone is not a viable bussiness solution. Or even a personal one. Not all the people want or can have Apple hardware (altough Apple would like the contrary). I think even a claim had been made in courts, regarding this issue. But in search about an objective POV, we Apple users must read the "little things" in our EULAS and Service terms....

Thank you for your input.

I actually didn't realise there was a lawsuit against Apple for this issue until someone replied to a Facebook post of mine, after I made this forum post, where one of my friends pointed it out. I've included a link to it below. In my opinion, the claim of 5M USD, is too little to cover the potential damages this has on business not to mention personal communication in general. Also, the amount is a drop in the bucket for Apple, it's pocket-change. It needs to be for much more - an amount that would make them sit up and listen and take action. I'm not saying this out of greed but because, sadly, money talks.

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/05/new-class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-apple-concerns-android-phones-imessage.html

P.S. Please excuse any spelling errors, but they exist because Apple sued Samsung for underlining misspelt words as Apple has the patented for the concept on mobiles even though Microsoft invented it first.

 

[roadbloc]

I've had this issue (thankfully resolved), as does my Dad and a couple of friends (currently unresolved). Did Apple really think that people wouldn't buy anything but iPhones once they had bought their first? Really not an issue you'd expect Apple to have missed and it's understandably frustrating too. They need to buckle up and fix this fast.

 

[Mr Rabbit]

Just think what this means for business people trying to send messages to other business people that are affected? There could be potentially thousands and thousandth of lost business deals because of Apple. Did I hear lawsuit? Anyone?

Is the iPhone a reliable business tool? Absolutely not with such a HUGE flaw.

Well, the fact is Apple has more or less already won the enterprise market. I don't know of a single business that, outside of SpotOn check in kiosks in restaurants, uses Android devices. Blackberry still has a noticeable footprint but that's rapidly shrinking every day. Small "bugs" like this will be insignificant to that market considering in-house IT teams will address issues similar to this with their end users, something that consumers often don't have the luxury of.

___________________________

Since this doesn't affect everyone I've had serious doubts that it's a widespread systems issue and that it's more of an end user issue. My reasoning for this as someone who was a Genius for a few years and have worked in Apple centric support environments, currently supporting 250~ Macs in an enterprise environment, since before iMessage existed...

The vast majority of iOS/Mac users have no idea what iMessage is. They either don't notice or don't care why some messages are green and some are blue. If anything I'd say the majority think the different colors might be a problem that they caused and are too embarrassed to ask about. As anyone who has worked in tech support will know, this is exacerbated by the fact that most end users just click through everything without pausing to think about what it means.

With this in mind and seeing several of my friends make the switch to a manufacturer outside of Apple's ecosystem the above logic seems to be the main factor. A few of my friends have asked about switching to Android/Windows Mobile/etc and I've warned them to turn off iMessage before getting rid of their iOS device. Those same friends haven't had any complaints (outside of the first 2-3 messages someone sends, more on that later) about messages not being received. The friends, and people I support professionally, that just switched blindly, without first looking through their iOS settings, have all complained that they aren't getting messages.

Along with this is my personal experience. I've been an iPhone user since the month the iPhone was released in 2007, owning every model through the 5S. Recently I switched to a Nexus 5 for my personal phone (still have a 5S for work) as a way to educate myself on the Android ecosystem since, outside of articles and second hand experience, I've been completely in the dark on it. Before turning off my iPhone 5, which is the only device registered to receive iMessages through my phone number, I switched iMessage to "Off" and sent a couple of messages to/from my work iPhone.

Fast forward a month or so and I've had only a few complaints, all within the first week, of messages failing to send to me. The complaints I've had were from iOS users who I had previously had iMessage conversations with, their outbound messages would try to send as iMessages but quickly fail. After the second fail they would switch to SMS and ,obviously, send fine. Each person had maybe 4 or 5 messages behave this way before their device seemed to remember that it should use SMS for my contact. No one, to my knowledge based on the 3 or 4 people I asked, had to remove me as a contact, remove the conversation, etc. It would just fail a couple of times, each time notifying the sender, then default to SMS.

I'd say maybe this is another case of "I don't know because I'm not getting the messages" but considering how vocal I've been about the switch on Facebook and in my social circles the likelihood of someone sending a bunch of messages that I never respond to, and not notifying me that something is up, is very unlikely.

So, that's my experience, from both sides of the equation.

I know Apple has said they're working to address these "issues" but in all likelihood their thinking is probably similar to mine, in that the system was too seamless and allowed the vast majority of people to be ignorant to it's workings and limitations. By addressing the issue they are probably building in a way to register/unregister phone numbers via iCloud or an Apple support channel.