Sorry, Google, but Apple Isn’t Listening (Premium)

Google’s “Get the Message” ad campaign is aimed at convincing Apple to adopt RCS. But it’s Google that needs to get the message. Apple ain’t listening. And it never will.

“It’s not about the color of the bubbles,” a new subsite on Android.com notes, referring to Apple’s use of color in its messaging app to denote who’s in the Apple ecosystem. “It’s the blurry videos, broken group chats, missing read receipts and typing indicators, no texting over Wi-Fi, and more. These problems exist because Apple refuses to adopt modern texting standards when people with iPhones and Android phones text each other.”

Google is right: Apple’s continued use of proprietary technologies, and it’s continued ignoring of industry standards and outside technologies, has created a world in which there are two incompatible ecosystems, Apple’s and everything else. Apple fans point to this strategy either explicitly or implicitly as some kind of advantage, because when you give up choice---and, in a way, your soul---and just buy Apple products and services, everything just works.

Sure. But what this audience is forgetting or ignoring is even more important: Not everyone has decided to limit their choices like they have---indeed, there are far more people who haven’t---and they’ve created a bifurcated world in which many things that could work well between platforms don’t. In other words, they’re making the world worse and promoting Apple’s competitive needs over doing the right thing.

I can’t help those people, and, look, I kind of get it: anyone who has struggled with technology, which is everyone, understandably wants to move into a warm, comfortable world where everything works. That’s the dream.

No, it’s Apple I take exception with here. Not just because they’re doing what they’re doing, but because they are likewise ceaselessly promoting themselves as some kind of bastion of all that’s good and right with the world. They're not.

And Google, I mean … what can one say here? They’re as problematic as is Apple, if for completely different reasons related mostly to privacy. But that’s not what we’re talking about today. What we’re talking about is Apple, its proprietary messaging system that alienates people from those they know and love who don’t use Apple products and services. And how they could very easily solve this problem without sacrificing their own users’ experiences. And they never will.

Google must know this. Must realize that there is no way to goad Apple, the “can’t innovate my ass” company that shoveled butterfly keyboards on their own customers for years, is basically immune to feedback. When they do respond, as they have recently with thicker MacBooks with more reasonable port selections and actually usable keyboards, they do so belatedly and mostly without apology. Witness the ongoing situation with Apple and USB-C on iPhones and AirPods. They’ll get there...

Gain unlimited access to Premium articles.

With technology shaping our everyday lives, how could we not dig deeper?

Thurrott Premium delivers an honest and thorough perspective about the technologies we use and rely on everyday. Discover deeper content as a Premium member.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC