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Comment by codq | Hacker News Reader

Not only did Apple miss an opportunity to own global messaging, Google could have done the same if they had designed Allo with SMS fallback similar to iMessage.

I have no idea what they were thinking with Allo, but they blew one of the easiest layups I’ve ever seen.

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Allo was doomed to fail.

RCS is the evolution of SMS, is standardized and should be what the industry uses. Carriers mostly adopted it I think, but as expected, the situation is a mess. Bell, for example, went with Samsung for their RCS infrastructure and for some reasons, they don't allow sending RCS messages to other carriers.

Google decided to bypass carriers entirely, but you have to use the Google Messages app to use RCS. So if you use another texting app, it won't work.

Again, the whole thing is a mess.

They were far too late with Allo. The time to get it right was when Whatsapp came around.

I like iMessage because it sends full quality media, but WhatsApp fills all the other gaps.

I don't understand how Google wasn't able to figure out messaging. That has to be an embarrassment inside Google.

For whom? They don't seem to care about anything anymore.

Maybe they missed a chance to own global messaging, though I’m not sure that’s true given the number of competing messaging platforms, but iMessage being a walled garden has sold a shitload of devices for Apple and served as a major way of locking people into their ecosystem. It’s a major differentiator from Android/PC products, and it’s something I’ve heard mentioned a lot when people are choosing between Android and iOS or between PC laptop vs MacBook.

I think people are underestimating the value that Apple has derived in terms of device sales from not expanding iMessage to other platforms, and device sales are worth a lot of money compared to new messaging-only users.

No one wanted iMessage when it came out. Making it opt out on iPhones and defaulting made people try it and they started to prefer it when they realized. The opt out was Apple's key to success. Google should have done the same on Android.

Because of antitrust concerns. It amuses me every time this suggestion resurfaces here because this community is most familiar with anti-Google pressure when it tries to use its market share like this.

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