Google turns to regulators to force Apple to open up iMessage -Gudstory

iMessage serves as “a critical gateway between business users and their customers” and should be regulated as a “core” service under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google and major European A group of telecom companies said in a letter sent. European Commission, and overseen by The Financial Times, Being designated as a “core platform service” would be important for iMessage, as it could force Apple to make it interoperable with other messaging services.

Google has been very vocal about its desire for Apple to adopt RCS, the cross-platform messaging standard it introduced as a successor to SMS, with its #GetTheMessage campaign. “Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy,” said Google’s senior vice president, Apple. Posted by Hiroshi Lockheimer on X, which was known as Twitter last year. “Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell a product is disingenuous for a company whose core marketing is humanity and equality. “There are standards in place today to get it right.”

Apple’s Messages app can already send cross-platform messages via SMS. But iMessage’s advanced features like encryption and better quality photos and videos are exclusive to Apple’s ecosystem. Apple iMessage users communicate with feature-rich blue bubbles, while everyone else is relegated to the inferior green.

letter, which foot The note, signed by an unnamed Google senior vice president along with the CEOs of Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Orange, argues that iMessage meets the threshold of being a core platform service under the Digital Markets Act. That is, it is being operated by a company with annual revenues of more than €7.5 billion, and at least 10,000 monthly active business users in the EU. The focus on business users reflects the fact that under the DMA “gatekeepers” and their core platform services are considered to “provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers”.

“Through iMessage, business users are only able to send rich messages to iOS users and will have to rely on traditional SMS for all other end users,” the letter sent to Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton reportedly reads. The letter argues that iMessage is an important gateway between businesses and their customers, and this is “without a doubt justification for Apple’s designation as the gatekeeper for its iMessage service”.

Apple did not immediately respond The Verge’s Request for comment. The company indicated The Financial Times A statement said that “Consumers today have access to a variety of messaging apps, and they often use several simultaneously, which shows how easy it is to switch between them.”

The statement continues, “iMessage is designed and marketed for personal consumer communications, and we look forward to explaining to the Commission why iMessage falls outside the scope of the DMA.” According to the Commission, Apple has previously argued that iMessage is not popular enough in the EU to be designated as a core platform service, and it lacks support for business-focused features such as APIs.

The Commission continues to investigate whether iMessage should be designated a core platform service under the DMA. The decision is expected before February next year.