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Ask any Android user to name an Apple application he would like to have on his Galaxy or Pixel phone and the answer will almost always be the same: iMessage. And the probable reason behind this answer? Green bubbles.
While Android users have no idea if the person they are texting with is an iPhone, Android or Windows Phone, Apple clearly explains which device you are using, as well as your friends. The messages of iPhone users are wrapped in serene blue bubbles while the bubbles of all others are stained in a shrill green hue.
And we, Android users, would like that to change. Not only are we tired of seeing our iPhone-loving friends reprimand us for ruining the group messages, but we would also like to see what all the fuss is about. We are still waiting for a versatile messaging application on Android, and an Apple client is intriguing, especially for those who use it and still lament the loss of Allo. I'm willing to bet that if Apple released an Android iMessage client on the Play Store, it would quickly become one of the most downloaded email applications, challenging Google's own messages, WhatsApp and Signal, at least at launch.
It's a beautiful dream, but it will never happen. No matter how many tweets, medium-sized messages or editorials are written, Apple will never publish iMessage for anything that is not an Apple device.
Blue of envy
When Apple launched iMessage in iOS 5 in 2011, it looked like BlackBerry Messenger for iOS users. Apple has called it a "new email service that allows you to easily send SMS, photos, and videos among all iOS 5 users." It was as simple as that: turn it on and you can chat with your friends via Wi-Fi or cellular. without going through your carrier. The messages arrived instantly, the indicators indicated when people were answering, and the reading defenders let you know when someone saw your message.
Leif Johnson / IDGIMessages are not only beautiful in color – they also allow you to use all the features of Messages.
Some eight years later, iMessage is arguably the most used messaging service in the world. It's on Mac and Apple Watches, as well as hundreds of millions of iOS devices. Stickers and screen effects can spice up any conversation. And you can send audio messages as an animated poop pile.
What has not changed are these bright green bubbles. As the popularity of iMessage has grown, green bubbles have become more and more bothersome. So, when an Android user joins a group conversation, he spoils the party for everyone, making the whole group green and detrimental to the iMessage experience.
Creative Strategy Analyst Ben Bajarin told an anecdote last week about a 16-year-old young switchman who said he dropped his Pixel 2 because of the green bubbles. As he explained, he was tired of being excluded from group posts because of his green status. And it's not only high school students: according to the New York Post, it has become so serious that some iPhone users do not even think about going out with someone who does not write his messages on blue bubbles .
Yes, it's a small sample, and it's just as easy to find people who are not so superficial, but if there is one benefit to remember, it's that people care about their status. This is not an accident. Apple differentiates iMessages from SMS messages with so different colors for a reason: tell your friends who have the good taste to buy an Apple device.
The numbers do not add up
If inclusion in a special Blue-Bubble club is not reason enough for Apple to keep iMessage locked on iOS, then consider its calculation: Apple has sold more than $ 30 billion iOS devices in the last quarter and $ 11.5 billion in services, the vast majority of which are related to these Apple devices.
Michael Simon / IDGiMessage is a source of revenue for Apple, even if users are not billed to use it.
Granted, an iMessage app for Android would almost certainly be a paid service, but the numbers still do not fit. Even though Apple could successfully charge $ 10 per month for a cross-platform iMessage service, which is no small deal when WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Android messages are all free, they would need to register serious numbers to make up for the inevitable loss of iPhone users.
Some quick calculations: If 10,000,000 people sign up for iMessage at $ 10 a month, that would yield $ 300 million a quarter. Assuming an average selling price of about $ 750, which equates to about 400,000 iPhones, less than 1% of quarterly sales. So, if iPhone sales dropped by more than one percent after the launch of iMessage for Android – a fairly likely consequence based on the anecdotes above -, Apple would lose out of the market. 39; money.
The Apple Music Experience
Even if you want to ignore the lockdown and profits while keeping the hope that Apple will shock the world and unveil an iMessage app for Android someday, there is one more reason for this not to happen never: Apple Music.
Ryan Whitwam / IDGSorry, Android users, you are blocked by Google messages and not by Apple.
Of course, Apple Music is not iMessage, but it goes without saying that Apple apps are not as popular on Android. Apple would give up one of the biggest benefits of the iPhone and probably lose money for an app that would probably lag behind its peers in the Play Store. And although Android can certainly use a messaging service like that of Apple that actually works, there is no guarantee that it would be as transparent and instant on Android phones as on Apple devices. The features would undoubtedly be delayed, updates would be slow to arrive and ultimately it probably would not be better than Allo or any other email app that came and went, except to keep your friends' chats iPhone in blue.
I think it's safe to say that Apple's iMessage will remain locked on iOS as long as the iPhone is sold by Apple. Even if the application is embarrassingly colored in green Android.
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