Apple will adopt the RCS system for messaging on the iPhone: the announcement is another opening from the Cupertino company towards standards adopted by other manufacturers, as has already happened for the USB-C port. And it marks a further reversal of direction compared to positions that Apple had recently strongly defended, as had already happened this summer with the right to repair, previously defined as a potential danger for customers, then supported with an open letter to the California legislature. A year ago, Tim Cook declared that he didn’t think it was appropriate to put “so much effort” into adopting the Rich Communication Service, “because not many of our users are asking for it”, today Apple explains to the specialized site 9to5mac that the RCS will arrive “by 2024”.
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What
The RCS offers typical functions of platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram directly in the messaging app pre-installed on phones. Among others, read receipt, typing indicators, sharing high-quality images and videos, group messaging. This standard, born as an evolution of the 31-year-old SMS, has so far seen rather little diffusion because it must be adopted by mobile service providers and device manufacturers. Today 47 operators use it11 manufacturers and 2 operating system providers (Google and Microsoft).
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Why
The iPhone has its own platform, iMessage, in Italian Messaggi, not compatible with any device outside the Apple world. The effort of Carl Pei, who allegedly found an ingenious but unreliable solution to make iMessage also available on his Nothing devices, will therefore remain without consequences. Not that many believed it, in truth, even if Carl Pei had tagged Tim Cook in a tweet where he announced the arrival of the service.
More convincing must have been the doubt that the European Union could force Apple to open iMessage by enforcing the rules of the Digital Markets Acts, which oblige the so-called gatekeepers to also allow access to third-party services and platforms. The Digital Markets Act speaks clearly: gatekeeper is a company that provides browser, messaging or social media services to at least 45 million monthly end users in the EU, has at least 10,000 users per year, a market capitalization of €75 billion or more, or an annual turnover of 7.5 billion euros.
In Cupertino they insist that iMessage is not big enough, and it seems they are ready to appeal to the European Union for including the App Store and iMessage in the Digital Markets Act. At the same time, however, they are preparing to apply European laws, first with allowing sideloading on iOSwhich will allow you to install apps from stores other than the official one, and now with the adoption of the RCS Universal Profile system, the standard currently published by the GSM Association.
The thousand blue bubbles
In the United States there is a perceived stigma among iMessage’s blue text messages and all the others, which are green; it is perceived less in the rest of the world, where WhatsApp, Telegram and Messenger are more widespread than Apple’s proprietary system. In all likelihood, the color difference will remain, because – explains Apple – iMessage will continue to be the messaging platform for all communications between iPhone users. RCS will take the place of SMS and MMS, which will also continue to be available as a fallback. Adopting RCS will allow iPhone (and iPad, evidently) users to share your location with Android users within text threads and also send messages via mobile data or Wi-Fi, unlike current SMS.
However, Apple emphasizes that iMessage is much more secure and privacy-friendly than RCS because it is end-to-end encrypted and message data is also protected in iCloud; therefore it will work with GSMA member manufacturers and operators to further improve the RCS protocol.