re: Apple Or Android? May The Battle Continue.

quote:

---

It’s kinda fricked we are talking about using the DOJ to force Apple to integrate what is for all purposes a Google product into their messaging app. RCS is pretty much Google in this country. It’s not SMS or MMS functionality you are using, it’s Google Jibe.

---

The device OS market is essentially binary so of course Google essentially owns the other half. This isn't a novel case. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and others have all face similar network gaming anticompetitive cases in the past seeking similar portability outcomes. Thats usually going to mean Company A has to at some level integrate with Company B and/or C, D, E, etc. I think we can all agree that SMS/MMS is dead as far as todays uses and expectations go, but native messaging has been replaced with iMessage and RCS. If we want to preserve native messaging and an open messaging platform then Apple has to budge.

IMO a level of interoperability is the best path forward for the consumer as it reduces the switching cost for existing users of either platform and promotes a more competitive and innovative playing field where consumers are picking the device that best suits their needs instead of picking devices based on market share and messaging compatibility. Portability is always going to be in the best interest of the consumer and the worst interest of the Company seeking to retain and fleece customers through high switching cost for existing users.

The other option is to do nothing. But, if we are content to let native messaging die and "let the market decide" which messaging platform wins, we are basically putting network effects on steroids. Then whoever holds the most market share will continue to be able to exploit consumers with high switching cost for existing users and low switching cost for new users. In the end the consumer suffers and a company ends up with a monopoly on messaging or even worse devices. Its not far fetched to imagine as we move further and further away from being able to use SMS/MMS as a fallback for native messaging that at some point native messaging will no longer work between Apple and Android. And having or relying on another messaging platform rise to the top to fill that void doesn't solve the underlying issue of using network effects to hold consumers hostage.