Here’s the Reason Why Apple iMessage Is Not Available on Android

Apr. 10, 2021

If you haven’t been living under a rock, then you might already know about theongoing antitrust lawsuitthatEpic Games filed against Applelast year. Ahead of the beginning of the trial on May 3, Epic filed a brief that containssome extracts of statementsfrom Apple employees regarding the development of iMessage for Android. Yeah, Apple did think of bringing iMessage to Android. But, as revealed, Apple intentionally did not develop an Android version of iMessage to prevent users from switching platforms.

iMessage is one of Apple’s most prized proprietary platforms amongst the rest in its closed ecosystem. It has been super popular amongst iOS users and one of the primary reasons, which prevents them to leave Apple’s walled garden.

The brief from Epic contains testimony from Eddy Cue, the Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services at Apple admitting that they“could have made a version [of iMessage] on Android that worked with iOS.”Moreover, it wasplanned with cross-compatibility in mindso that“users of both platforms would have been able to exchange messages with one another seamlessly.”

However, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering and chief of iOSCraig Federighistated that“iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones”. Theformer Marketing Head of the companyPhil Schiller allegedly agreed to Federighi’s claims.

Now, these statements were brought up by Epic Games to show Apple’s monopolistic strategies to retain its users and trap them in their vast ecosystem of products and services. And well, that’s the reason – greed and fear of losing market share – are the primary reasons for iMessage not being available on Android. And it will probably never be available on its rival OS.

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