“Google has been quietly corralling every major cellphone carrier on the planet into adopting technology to replace SMS,” Dieter Bohn writes for The Verge. “It’s going to be called “Chat,” and it’s based on a standard called the ‘Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services.’ SMS is the default that everybody has to fall back to, and so Google’s goal is to make that default texting experience on an Android phone as good as other modern messaging apps.”
“Chat is not a new texting app. Instead, think of it more like a new set of features inside the app already installed on most Android phones. ‘Chat’ is the consumer-friendly name for Rich Communication Services (RCS), the new standard that’s meant to supplant SMS, and it will automatically be turned on inside Android Messages, the OS’s default app for texting,” Bohn writes. “Chat is a carrier-based service, not a Google service. It’s just ‘Chat,’ not ‘Google Chat.’ In a sign of its strategic importance to Google, the company has spearheaded development on the new standard, so that every carrier’s Chat services will be interoperable. But, like SMS, Chat won’t be end-to-end encrypted, and it will follow the same legal intercept standards. In other words: it won’t be as secure as iMessage or Signal.”
“I have a hunch that the pressure is on to get Apple to support Chat, not just from Google but from carriers and other businesses,” Bohn writes. “Sources familiar with RCS say Google, along with multiple mobile operators, is in discussion with Apple about supporting RCS. Apple declined to comment.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The lack of end-to-end encryption is either a joke or a sign of just how tone deaf Google has become.
Apple should support “Chat” right after they make Windows the default operating system on Macintosh. If fact, long before that, Apple simply release end-to-end encrypted Messages for Android and sew up the instant messaging market for the next decade or more.
SEE ALSO:
Why Apple’s holding back Messages for Android: Hardware sales – June 15, 2016
Apple’s new iMessage is great, but why the hell isn’t it on Android, yet? – June 14, 2016
Apple’s iMessage and Siri will allow iOS 10 users to send money via Square Cash – June 13, 2016
Apple to deliver iMessage to Android at WWDC – June 9, 2016