Wired:
When text messaging was simple, SMS worked beautifully. You could send 160 characters to anyone with a cellphone, and they’d receive it the same way they would a phone call. In the age of flip phones and nine-key texting, that was all anyone needed. But when texting gave way to group messaging, video calls, and (Sent with Fireworks), the SMS standard just couldn’t keep up anymore.
And so users ran to solutions like WhatsApp, which grew huge audiences on the back of one simple idea: it’s like texting, only better and free. Apple built a huge devoted fanbase for iMessage by adding features right on top of texting. SMS squandered its tremendous inherent advantage—it’s built into your phone, so everyone has it—by steadfastly refusing to evolve. It raises a fascinating hypothetical: if carriers had stopped charging for texts and added in new tech like group chats and stickers, would the likes of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and GroupMe even exist?
It’s hard to overstate how convenient I find iMessage. On the rare occasions I “see the green” when I text someone, it’s really deflating.
More than the silly badge and fireworks features, the thing about Messenger that works best for me is that my chat history is ubiquitous on my devices. I can send my wife a message from my Mac at work, get the reply on my phone, and see all of it on my MBA at the house.
I have a friend I often communicate with on Google Talk and if I message her from my desktop at home, continuing the conversation after I get to work is annoying because I’m missing pieces of it.
Messages completely frees me of that problem.
Not only can I text using my iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Siri, it’s also all ENCRYPTED (if it’s blue, not green)! Something Trump needs to learn about since his Samsung S3 is obviously being used as a Russian bug.
iMessage is also wonderful for kids, since it doesn’t require a phone just an iPad or iPod touch (or an iPhone, of course).
I thought that was Twitter … doh!
sounds like you are talking about something between iMessages and Google, ‘Messages’ …
Duh, meant ‘Messages’!
In my office, we have 5 people on Macs. We can’t figure out how to STOP seeing the green when we send iMessages.
” On the rare occasions I “see the green” when I text someone, it’s really deflating.”
Why would it be deflating FOR YOU? Maybe for the receiver who can’t receive it with bonuses, but I don’t see how that would affect you unless you really want everything to be encrypted.
Because for people without unlimited data plans, texting costs money that runs out.
This headline is sort of ridiculous – when you look at the support this “standard” Google puts forth has – you will see that it is a very uphill battle to get this to be universal. Not even Samsung, from what I have read, will support it. That is a large portion of worldwide users. I just don’t understand what the point of offering 3 or 4 different messaging apps on Android is for Google, how is a user supposed to know which one they should set as the default?