Apple's iMessage under pressure: EU, Google and Samsung insist on RCS

Samuel Buchmann

11.10.2023

Translation: machine translated

Apple should finally support the RCS standard and thus make iOS and Android messaging apps more compatible. Google and Samsung are calling for this in new advertising campaigns. The EU also wants to force Apple to open up iMessage.

Google has launched an advertising campaign that puts Apple under public pressure. Under the slogan "Get the Message", Google is appealing to the iPhone manufacturer to finally support the Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard. The protocol is seen as the successor to SMS and MMS. It supports roughly the same functions as Apple's iMessage, but works across all platforms.

If you currently send a message from an Android messenger to an iPhone or vice versa, it will be converted to SMS and MMS. On the iPhone, you can see this by the fact that the text bubble turns green instead of blue. SMS and MMS only work over the mobile network and do not support encryption or group chats. In addition, photos and videos are only transmitted in low quality.

On the campaign website, Google writes: "Blurry videos, interrupted group chats, lack of encryption. Text messages between iPhones and Android phones feel like technology from a bygone era, because they are. Apple refuses to adopt modern standards. But this is 2023 and SMS shouldn't feel like a pager." The solution is obvious: Apple should introduce the RCS standard in iMessage.

"Buy your mum an iPhone"

So far, Apple has rejected this - without a clear explanation. In an interview last year, CEO Tim Cook merely said: "Our users are not asking us to put a lot of energy into this at the moment." When asked by a listener what he should do if he wanted to send a video to his mum and she had an Android device, Cook replied: "Buy your mum an iPhone."

The real reason why Apple is leaving RCS behind is presumably an economic one. The restriction to iMessage makes it difficult for users to break out of Apple's closed ecosystem. Within it, on the other hand, it works smoothly and across all devices. The bottom line so far seems to be that Apple has more to lose than to gain by switching to RCS.

In Europe, most iPhone users are currently switching to WhatsApp because the market share of Apple's iOS is only around a third. The situation is different in the USA, where over 50 per cent use an iPhone and iMessage is very popular. The blue text bubbles have become something of a status symbol. They show that you have an iPhone.

Support for Google from Samsung

Google receives support from South Korea. Samsung has been using Google's messaging app with RCS standard since the Galaxy S22. The smartphone giant posted a YouTube video on Tuesday entitled "Green text bubbles and blue text bubbles want to be together".

In the video, two text bubbles have a conversation, the green android bubble asks the other: "Can't you talk to your parents?"

The second bubble, symbolising a message from an iPhone, replies: "I've tried, but they want to keep us apart. I just don't understand." The green bubble replies: "What has green ever done to them? We're bubbles too."

Is the EU forcing Apple into RCS?

In the end, the EU could take the decision away from Apple, as was already the case with USB-C. The antitrust commission wants to categorise iMessage as a core service and thus subject it to the new Digital Markets Act (DMA). This is intended to regulate the so-called "gatekeepers", which include large tech companies such as Apple. The DMA stipulates that the services must be compatible with third-party providers - which in the case of iMessage would be tantamount to an RCS obligation.

Apple, however, is opposed to iMessage being categorised as a core service. The company argues that the number of users is not high enough for this. In order to assess this, the EU Commission has now launched a survey among iMessage users and other suppliers, as reported by the news agency Reuters. The investigation should be completed in five months

Samuel Buchmann

Senior Editor

Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.ch

My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.