RCS messaging is a standard developed by the GSM Association and adopted by many Android devices. It is designed to elevate messaging communications across mobile devices.
"Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association,” an Apple spokesperson said.
“We believe the RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.”
Dario Betti, CEO of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) believes that the announcement is too late to provide a “real worry” for a player such as WhatsApp.
Betti says the change will not affect its usage base immediately but if Google and Apple were to back the service for deeper device integration in the future, that might represent a challenge for Meta and other messaging companies.
“Apple had resisted integrating the standard until now: its CEO, Tim Cook, said it did not see customer demand for RCS in 2022,” Betti says.
According to Bettie, the announcement is a politically balanced approach given it introduces the new technology without celebrating it.
“After all, Apple is not moving away from its successful Apple to Apple messaging platform, iMessage.
“Nor is it stopping its foray into business messaging, the paid services offered to companies that want to run customer services or promotional campaigns via phone messages. It is an RCS announcement, and not an "RBM" (RCS Business Messaging), but the news is big - even if expected to an extent.”
The reasons for the announcement
While the reasons behind this announcement are not public, Betti says it would not be speculation to point at a few facts:
User Experience: SMS/MMS interconnection for advanced messaging was becoming unsustainable for Apple. Messaging is now much more advanced. An evolution for SMS had to be supported even by Apple, even if only for non-iOS.
Higher RCS uptake: MEF announced in October that there are an estimated 1.2 billion devices supporting RCS in the market globally.
According to MEF Data, there are 1.1 billion iPhones in the world. For the first time, there are more RCS devices than Apple ones. Google removing the obligatory opt-in for RCS made it a true replacement of the SMS services in Android phones.
Regulation: The European Union legislation on the Digital Markets Act was going to include Apple’s iMessage service in its list of gatekeepers, with a specific request to offer messaging interconnection.
“Apple was likely to be forced to introduce an RCS-like service in any case,” Betti concludes,” Betti concludes.
