As part of the current lequal battle between Fortnite maker, Epic and Apple, has come to light some new information that confirms the most annoying Apple’s iMessage app: that Apple could make a cross-platform version of iMessage for Android phones, but it won’t because it would be bad for business.
This information comes from the testimonial that appears in Epic report against Apple, which was recently published on Reddit. In the document, there are several claims by well-known Apple executives describing the reasons why Apple never made a cross-platform version of iMessage for Android devices.
In an appointment dating back to 2013, Eddy Cue – who is now Apple’s senior vice president for Internet programs and services – said that Apple “could have made a version [of iMessage] on Android running iOS “, offering the possibility that” users of both platforms could have exchanged messages with each other without problems “.
Unfortunately, it seems that several Apple executives were concerned that doing so would be too easy for iPhone owners to leave Apple’s ecosystem, with Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, that said, “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle for iPhone families who offer their children Android phones “, according to a brief comment from Epic, also shared Phil Schiller, who was then in charge of overseeing Apple’s App Store.
It seems that these feelings have been known to Apple for quite some time. The document describes a 2016 comment from a former Apple employee who said “the number 1 most difficult [reason] leaving the application of the Apple universe is iMessage … iMessage is a serious block, “with Schiller who said the comment saying:” Moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than it will help us, this email illustrates the why ”
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The most depressing of these claims is that it removes any doubt that Apple can make a version of iMessage for Android if it wanted to, but it hasn’t because Apple is more concerned with making it easier for its customers to exit its ecosystem. which has led to an unnecessarily fragmented messaging ecosystem and the feeling that Apple uses fabricated exclusivity to hold iMessage users hostage for a long time.
Unfortunately, while these testimonials seem quite detrimental to Apple, it’s unclear whether these revelations will force Apple to reconsider the transfer of iMessage to Android in the future. But at least we now know for sure why it never happened.