Tim Cook Shoots Down Idea of iOS Adopting RCS Messages: 'Buy Your Mom an iPhone'

[M3gatron]

If google is first to market with all the infrastructure, installed-base of users, and add-on features to RCS that people actually want, the actual standard is irrelevant.

Yes it's irrelevant. Read the link I provides, it's from gsma.com
Because of the way RCS Universal Profile is structured and supported by different companies, both phone manufactures and Carriers from different countries you can't say Google has control over RCS or will ever have control over RCS, they can only influence it by bringing improvements to it, like any of the involved companies can.


If Google right now does anything to jeopardize RCS's status in the GSM industry, RCS is gone, so they aren't really in control of it.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

“Buy your mom an iPhone” or, you know, use any of the myriad of messaging apps available on both platforms?

 

[azhava]

I don't agree with everything Tim Cook/Apple says or does, but I love this. I even love the way he phrased it.

There's no benefit whatsoever to Apple (or Apple users) from adopting RCS. Google knows that the "green bubble" hurts their marketing, and they want Apple to fix it for them. Too bad. It's not anticompetitive for Apple to not bow down to the desires of another company and give up something that is a marketing advantage for them, that's called a smart business decision.

 

[madebybela]

Advocating bullying is not a nice look, especially for something as trivial as choice of messaging app.

I agree but the reality is this bullying already exists amongst young people and Apple knows they're benefitting from it.

 

[mikethemartian]

"Buy your mom an iPhone"
Wow, maybe his mom has an opinion of her own about which phone she wants. Apple is so arrogant sometimes, and it clearly starts at the top

Tim Cook wants some of that Jitterbug money.

 

[Charmandrigo]

Is Tim apple really this much of a jackass?

 

[visualseed]

Yes it's irrelevant. Read the link I provides, it's from gsma.com
Because of the way RCS Universal Profile is structured and supported by different companies, both phone manufactures and Carriers from different countries you can't say Google has control over RCS or will ever have control over RCS, they can only influence it by bringing improvements to it, like any of the involved companies can.


If Google right now does anything to jeopardize RCS's status in the GSM industry, RCS is gone, so they aren't really in control of it.

Give me an example of two carriers letting customers interchange message on RCS UPv2.4 that are not using Google to broker the messages.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Anyway, the EU is going to put him in his place next year

The EU, like Brazil, is just telling Apple their products are no longer wanted in the territory. And, that’s fine, they have every right to reject whatever business they feel it’s necessary to reject. Those in the territory will still be able to buy iPhones, just through the gray market. And, if they want to buy things in an App Store, they’ll have to use an out of market credit card.

The EU developers might not like having their business evaporate, but it’s not the EU regulators’ job to ensure that EU iOS developers stay profitable.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Is Tim apple really this much of a jackass?

Looks like it. Not surprising, though, as he likely learned from Steve “You’re holding it wrong” Jobs.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I don't agree with everything Tim Cook/Apple says or does, but I love this. I even love the way he phrased it.

There's no benefit whatsoever to Apple (or Apple users) from adopting RCS. Google knows that the "green bubble" hurts their marketing, and they want Apple to fix it for them. Too bad. It's not anticompetitive for Apple to not bow down to the desires of another company and give up something that is a marketing advantage for them, that's called a smart business decision

No benefit to Apple users? That's just silly

 

[ProfessionalFan]

No benefit to Apple users? That's just silly

Yep exactly, silly argument. As someone who communicates with an Android user from my iPhone, this would benefit me as well as them.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Tim Cook wants some of that Jitterbug money.

Apple Watch fall detection already kicks Life Alert's butt as it is

 

[zoomp]

First rule of international trade for Americans: install Whatsapp.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Yep exactly, silly argument. As someone who communicates with an Android user from my iPhone, this would benefit me as well as them.

It absolutely would and as a side note the fact that this isn't a thing is precisely why WhatsApp is huge.

 

[Juraj22]

But then why did Apple integrate SMS into iMessage? The rest of my family is just not going to buy an iPhone, mainly because none of them can afford it. They also don't have SMS credits any more, so I have one-way SMS to them. As an Apple user I'd like to have RCS included alongside SMS in iMessage (maybe with purple bubbles).

Really if Apple e-mail can talk to non-Apple e-mail, and iMessage can talk with SMS, why not RCS.... Maybe then SMS as an old insecure standard can be shut off.

iPhone with iMessage came to the environment where smartfones weren't really smartphones we know today. From today perspective, you would say all phones before iPhone were dumb phones. So Apple had to support SMS because everything on the market was using it.

Today, we are in very different world. You can buy cheap Android phone for 200$, install Whatsapp on it, or use iPhone, install Whatsapp on it (or Signal or FB Messenger..you name it, there are a lot of options) and you can happily communicate no problemo. No green/blue bubbles. All you need is internet connection. So tell me, why you need RCS in iMessage so badly?

 

[Teckman333]

I’m sure his response was tongue in cheek. Apple has the right to make their product the way they want. If you choose to use an Android phone, and the messaging doesn’t work well with your iPhone friends, then maybe try a third party app, like WhatsApp (this is the primary texting app for most of the world anyway).

 

[strongy]

Give it a year and regulators will force it on him, like they’ve forced USB-C into their iPhones.

barely anyone uses sms, most people dont even know rcs is a thing and a lot of carriers never even added support theirs 20 officially outside america.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

What happens if they cannot afford to buy their parents new iPhones?

Help them create an Instagram account? Send the content via email? Upload the videos to YouTube as private videos that only selected folks can view? Utilize one of the many free or pay cloud hosting solutions?

There are still very many difficult technical problems that need solutions. “How to share pictures/video with someone that has an Android device when I have an iPhone” is NOT one of them.

 

[strongy]

Well you can’t send images or files over text. (MMS has been discontinued here many years ago and never really used cuz one MMS was like 49 cent). Do group chats work with sms? I guess not

MMS still works in europe although why anyone would want to pay to use it rather than use whatsapp or telegram 🤷‍♂️

 

[strongy]

it's not anticompetitive yet, who knows what gov't around the world gonna push apple to adopt this.

i see it as a purely american problem, no one else is bothered

 

[throAU]

RCS is pretty crap though.

Just use something common to both platforms already. There’s plenty of options.

 

[visualseed]

Try getting a photo or a video from someone on the opposite platform. You'll instantly understand what's the issue. Plus the whole privacy thing...

Why doesn't google update their iOS apps to support RCS. Why is the messaging in Google voice on iOS still stuck on the media-size limited and insecure SMS standard?

 

[strongy]

We are an iPhone family.

Also not a Facebook family.

But are forced to use What’s App because our iPhones don’t support RCS and half the phones in the USA aren’t iPhones.

It’s not possible for us to buy 1/2 of our contacts an iPhone.

We really would get What’s App off our phones and be Facebook free except for Apple’s position on RCS.

Also, even though we use them near exclusively, both iMessage and FaceTime could use some improvements to gain some features of what’s app, Skype, etc. to be more competitive in both messaging and telephony.

right yeah forced to use whatsapp you know theirs several other app's you could use that have nothing to do with facebook if you are that desperate.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Lowest-common-denominator SMS Txt messaging is bad when there are better options.

Yes. All of social media is a better option. All of the Instant Messaging apps available are also better options. Anyone trying to use texting to send images/videos are trying to use the wrong tool for the job. Fortunately, most of the world is beyond this. The one GOOD thing about Google going on about RCS is that people in the US are realizing through threads like this, that WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc. are all better ways for their mixed platform communications to occur.

 

[strongy]

Green bubble means the message was sent through SMS instead of the internet. SMS is outdated. Messages aren't encrypted, group messaging is a nightmare, video and image files in piss quality, has no read receipts, and more.

RCS fixes all the problems with green texts and then some, bringing them closer to iMessage. Which is exactly why Apple won't do it and Tim says snide comments like this, because keeping iPhone on the dated SMS system is a gatekeeping measure to keep you locked in to the walled garden and to peer pressure those around you to get iPhones too just for iMessage.

20 carriers outside the USA support RCS, everyone supports SMS this problem only ever crops up in america no one else seems to care about it because we barely use SMS at all.