> iMessage is still only available on Apple hardware.

Yes, but I think the pressure is external. RCS brings many iMessage capabilities cross platform. As adoption increases I think the power and influence of iMessage will wane.

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direwolf20 8 hours ago | parent [-]

RCS is Google's iMessage with the same vendor locking — not actually cross-platform.

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at1as 7 hours ago | parent [-]

RCS is an open standard that Apple now uses as well.

I think there's a legitimate concern about having essentially two phone platforms, and how anything can really be "open" in that environment. But it's definitely a step forward.

And Google has built proprietary things on top of the standard, which is indeed concerning.

	▲	direwolf20 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It requires you to have a whitelisted private key to make devices that use RCS