On the 30th anniversary of SMS, Google mocks Apple for still living in the 90s

Apple does not support RCS, resulting in blue and green bubbles in text messages

Phoenix Net Science and Technology News Beijing time on December 3rd, December 3rd is the 30th anniversary of the advent of SMS. Google tweeted on Friday, wishing text messages “Happy Birthday” and saying goodbye to them at the same time, arguing that it’s time to turn to the age of Rich Communications (RCS). Google also once again took a swipe at Apple for not supporting RCS, saying it was still alive in the 1990s.

On December 3, 1992, Neil Papworth, a software engineer of the British telecommunications company Vodafone, sent the world’s first text message “Merry Christmas”, announcing the advent of text messages.

“While I’m all about nostalgia, I also want to use this occasion to look in another direction,” wrote Neena Budhiraja, product manager for Google’s information division, in the article. Much more powerful. My current phone is a completely different device than my first one. With RCS, texting should and can be better than when it started.”

Budhiraja then began to lash out at Apple for dragging its feet. “Most of the mobile world is using RCS, but one company is holding back,” she said, referring to Apple, “but after 30 years of texting, it’s really time to switch to RCS.”

In 2008, RCS was selected by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) as a potential replacement for Short Message Service. Among iPhone users, text messages sent using iMessage appear in blue. Since Apple does not support the RCS format, text messages sent by iPhone users to Android users will be displayed in green. These are the so-called “blue bubbles” and “green bubbles”. This distinction makes many people not want to use Android phones.

In the article, Google proposed three reasons for switching to RCS: the first is that it can provide end-to-end encryption, and the privacy of information is better; the second is that it can improve the conversation experience because it can send high-quality pictures and Video; the third is more popular.

“With the exception of Apple, all major mobile operators and manufacturers have adopted RCS as a standard,” she wrote. “Apple has refused to adopt RCS. When iPhone users send messages to Android users, Apple still relies on SMS, which means that their messaging service It’s still stuck in the 1990s.”

For a long time, Google has been calling on Apple to switch to the RCS format. In August of this year, Google Android launched a #想明(GetTheMessage) campaign against Apple, accusing the company of not adopting RCS.

Apple CEO Tim Cook (Tim Cook) has previously responded that iPhone users have not given him much feedback on resolving text messages between iPhones and Android phones. In 2021, legal documents from Apple’s lawsuit with Epic Games show that Apple is reluctant to make the switch. “Moving iMessage to Android will do us more harm than help,” an Apple executive said.

“Hopefully Apple will #想明# so we don’t have to keep waiting to settle the ‘green bubble vs blue bubble’ debate,” Budhiraja said. “Happy birthday text – you’re off to a great start , you’re running fine, but everyone’s ready to upgrade.”

Apple and Google have yet to comment. (Author/Xiao Yu)

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