Introduction
Have you ever wonder why Apple never opened its iMessage platform to Android? It’s really ironic considering that the iMessage icon is always green, despite the iMessage bubbles are always blue, and the SMS bubbles are always green.
Here’s Why
As you may know, Apple and Epic Games have an ongoing legal battle thanks to Fortnite, and in a court filing for Epic, internal emails have revealed why that’s always the case. In the replies to the anonymous users’ emails, Phil Schiller said, “Moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us.” Craig Federighi also said, “porting iMessage to Android would ‘simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.”
History of iMessage
iMessage originally launched in 2011 as Apple’s instant messaging/social platform. Over the years, Apple expands iMessage with several fun features such as Memoji, Tapback effects, and even iMessage apps. Apple always makes iMessage a secure way to send messages with end-to-end encryption. At the same time, Apple has always made it a closed platform, which makes it difficult for users to switch to Android as illustrated in one of the emails.
Closed Ecosystem
Apple always want its users to be locked into its closed ecosystem, and iMessage is a key part to that ecosystem. That’s why Apple always chose not to make its macOS operating system open to other PC manufacturers. They actually did that before in the mid-1990s, where Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy. That was also when Mac clones existed. Since the strategy was ineffective, Apple decided to make its OS closed, thus shutting down the Mac clone business. The most underrated feature of Apple is that how tight Apple’s integration always is. Sure other companies try to have their own ecosystem. In the end, Apple performs it well. Apple offers several features across all of its devices that work together seamlessly such as Continuity and Handoff.
Conclusion
With Apple’s integrated ecosystem, I think Apple made the right decision in keeping iMessage exclusive to Apple devices. What do you guys think about iMessage? Would you ever leave Apple? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us at @Appleosophy.
