{"id":237262,"date":"2021-04-28T07:55:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T04:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/apple-turned-down-eddy-cues-plan-to-bring-imessage-to-android-in-2013\/"},"modified":"2021-04-28T07:55:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T04:55:01","slug":"apple-turned-down-eddy-cues-plan-to-bring-imessage-to-android-in-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/apple-turned-down-eddy-cues-plan-to-bring-imessage-to-android-in-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"#Apple turned down Eddy Cue\u2019s plan to bring iMessage to Android in 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#App<\/a>le turned down Eddy Cue\u2019s plan to bring iMessage to Android in 2013<\/strong>”
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There are few apps that lock iPhone users into Apple\u2019s ecosystem quite like iMessage. For us Android users, it can lead to a frustrating experience<\/a> when trying to communicate without our iPhone-toting friends, often leading to lost messages and a lack of feature compatibility.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, in an alternate universe iMessage may have been available on Android years ago. As reported by The Verge<\/a>, Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue tried to bring iMessage to Android as early as 2013.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, other Apple execs, including Craig Federighi, didn\u2019t like the idea.<\/p>\n

The news<\/a> comes courtesy of the ever-so-juicy Apple vs. Epic legal case. Epic is using this fun little tidbit to make its case that Apple is abusing its position as a market leader by trying to lock users into its ecosystem.<\/p>\n

The Verge reconstructed communications from Cue to Federighi based on a recently-made-public deposition<\/a>. Cue said, \u201d We really need to bring iMessage to Android,\u201d and after reading the\u00a0news that Google had tried to buy WhatsApp<\/a>, asked, \u201cDo we want to lose one of the most important apps in a mobile environment to Google?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Federighi in turn responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have any thoughts on how we would make switching to iMessage (from WhatsApp) compelling to masses of Android users who don\u2019t have a bunch of iOS friends?\u00a0iMessage is a nice app\/service, but to get users to switch social networks we\u2019d need more than a marginally better app.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He went on to say he was concerned bringing iMessage to Android would \u201csimply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federighi wasn\u2019t the only exec who, at least as some point, thought bringing iMessage to Android was a bad idea. Earlier documents<\/a> in the Epic case suggested that back in 2016, Apple\u2019s Phil Schiller had said that expanding iMessage to other platforms \u201cwill hurt us more than help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure I agree. iPhones are particularly popular in the US, and communicating with friends means having to use a mishmash of text messages and chat services, depending on who I\u2019m talking to. I can\u2019t help but feel that if iMessage had been available on Android so many years ago, it could have well dominated the messaging space.<\/p>\n

Granted, I can\u2019t know for sure; for all I know, Apple could still be debating the idea internally. The company made Apple Music available on Android some time back, and Apple TV+ has come to a few Google TV units. There\u2019s hope yet that one day I can be more than just a green bubble to my iPhone-loving friends.<\/p>\n

Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It\u2019s called Plugged In \u2013
\n and you can subscribe to it right here<\/a>.
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