What is the point of iMessage?

[Savage]

This is a serious question; I really don't get it. What is the point of iMessage compared to regular texting? I realize it's a little bit quicker and you can see if the message has been read/delivered, but other than that, what's the point? And because it uses data and almost everyone I text uses an iPhone, wouldn't I want to stop paying for a texting plan?

 

[liavman]

>And because it uses data and almost everyone I text uses an iPhone

That will be great for you. All your texts will actually go over iMessage. You should be able to get on a plan with minimal texting ceiling. But the carriers are smart, they are not offering such plans anymore, at least in the U.S. May be it is different internationally.

 

[mcarthon]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Umm you answered your own question.

 

[Savage]

>And because it uses data and almost everyone I text uses an iPhone

That will be great for you. All your texts will actually go over iMessage. You should be able to get on a plan with minimal texting ceiling. But the carriers are smart, they are not offering such plans anymore, at least in the U.S. May be it is different internationally.

Regardless of that, what is the point of iMessage? Why is everyone so hyped up over it? What was wrong with the regular texting the iPhone does?

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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Umm you answered your own question.

So this feature is amazing because we can see when the text has been read/delivered (most people, including myself, have this turned off)? And because it's a little bit faster than regular texting?

 

[treyjustice]

A universal iOS messaging app that is free. You can message anyone with an iOS device. iPod touch, iPad, iPhone, etc..

 

[Rayfire]

If you're like me, who have friends in Canada, Australia, Asia (basically across the globe) I can now send unlimited messages via iMessage for free without getting charged by AT&T's ridiculous charges in the US.

 

[elistan]

The point is that it saves me $20 per month!

 

[Jasonbot]

To make your blackberry friends jealous?

 

[adztaylor]

For the reasons above plus I think it's great for iPad and iPod touch users to have an inbuilt option to message each other for free.

 

[Savage]

For the reasons above plus I think it's great for iPad and iPod touch users to have an inbuilt option to message each other for free.

I didn't realize this so I guess it's pretty useful for those people. For me it's just a minor speed upgrade and now I have blue bubbles. I liked my green bubbles better.

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By the way, character count doesn't seem to work anymore but I do have it turned on. Anyone else?

 

[liavman]

Sorry I misunderstood. I thought the OP was asking the question seriously. It looks the OP already made up his/her mind that it is useless.

 

[Small White Car]

I liked my green bubbles better.

Then turn it off.

 

[solaris]

Because you can send messages with iPad and iPod, which can not send regular sms. Plus the fact that it may make you save money.

 

[kirky29]

For me, it's the fact that I can text my friends and the people I call family over in America for free. And they can do the same.

 

[iKimm]

I like it because I can use iMessage on my iPhone and then pick up the same conversation on my iPad. It syncs across all devices.

Plus my Mom has an iPad and no iPhone.... she won't have to worry about text bills any longer!

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

iMessage is much faster and is basically a chat client between iOS devices.

Texting is a ridiculous cash cow for cellphone providers and any thing to bring that down is a plus in my book.

Now if they can only integrate it into iChat.

 

[dubnde]

[/COLOR]By the way, character count doesn't seem to work anymore but I do have it turned on. Anyone else?[/QUOTE]
Character count is for SMS and not iMessage. I believe you can compose an iMessage longer than 160 characters. Perhaps you need to turn it back on for SMA

 

[ZepFloyd]

do you like saving money? if so, than iMesssage is great. if you like spending more money, then...well i dont know what to say.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

It's email in a SMS format, that only works on iOS5.

 

[gentlefury]

I guess I don't understand the question. Text messages are 10¢ a piece. A text message uses less than 1 byte of data. If you have an unlimited data plan it should be completely obvious the benefit. If you have a 2GB plan it should still be completely obvious! 2GB is 2 BILLION BYTES!!! It equals out to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a penny per text versus 10¢!!

 

[StanSmith]

I dont see the point either tbh. In the U.K the majority of plans have unlimited texts and if you don't have that you can just download a free app like live profile. Seems to me that Apple are a little too late with this idea.

 

[gentlefury]

I dont see the point either tbh. In the U.K the majority of plans have unlimited texts and if you don't have that you can just download a free app like live profile. Seems to me that Apple are a little too late with this idea.

Well, considering apple is a US company, and considering in the US nothing is unlimited. It doesn't have to make sense to you. It makes plenty of sense to us that get screwed out of text message charges.

 

[nebo1ss]

It is attempting to compete with BBM on the Blackberry. BBM is often the reason many get a blackberry. However, not sure how the security compares.

 

[Small White Car]

I dont see the point either tbh. In the U.K the majority of plans have unlimited texts and if you don't have that you can just download a free app like live profile. Seems to me that Apple are a little too late with this idea.

And then I have to force all my friends to download that app and then fuss at them to USE that app instead of texting me.

I did something like that for the last two years and it sucked. I'm glad to be done with it.

iMesssage is perfect because I can get the benefit from it without having to twist my friends' arms.

 

[Hellhammer]

I guess I don't understand the question. Text messages are 10¢ a piece. A text message uses less than 1 byte of data. If you have an unlimited data plan it should be completely obvious the benefit. If you have a 2GB plan it should still be completely obvious! 2GB is 2 BILLION BYTES!!! It equals out to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a penny per text versus 10¢!!

One character is usually equal to one byte. The usual limitation is 160 characters so with overhead, we are looking at roughly 200 bytes. Still pretty much nothing though.