It’s all about the bubbles.
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Samsung joins Google in RCS shaming Apple
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In a new video, the world’s largest Android manufacturer asks ‘What did green ever do to them?’
By
Jon Porter, a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.
Oct 10, 2023, 4:07 AM EDT|228 Comments / 228 New
Samsung has released a new video in support of
Google’s #GetTheMessage campaign which calls for Apple to adopt
RCS or “Rich Communication Services,” the cross-platform protocol pitched as a successor to SMS that adopts many of the features found in modern messaging apps... like Apple’s own iMessage.
The video, titled “Green bubbles and blue bubbles want to be together,” shows a Romeo and Juliet-style conversation between two users who want to be together, but who are kept apart by one of their “parents.”
“What did green ever do to them? We’re bubbles too,” one of them asks.
Related
The “bubbles,” of course, are a reference to Apple’s iMessage interface which shows feature-rich blue bubbles for messages sent between Apple users, and discordant green SMS bubbles with reduced functionality when Android users participate in the chat. This two-class system is especially frustrating in countries like the US where about half the population is using an iPhone and the other half is running Android on a Samsung device.
Apple, of course,
has every incentive keep the status quo as a form of
ecosystem lock-in, but it
might be forced to open up its messaging service as a result of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Regulators are
currently investigating whether iMessage meets the bar to be considered a “core platform service” under the rules, which would compel Apple to offer interoperability with other messaging services.