[matthew28845]

From personal experience this is mostly due to iMessage chats. Imagine for example that all of your friends have iPhones except one or two. From your perspective, they're the reason you can't have an iMessage chat with all the fancy features. Sure, you could use another messaging app, but why couldn't they just buy the phone that always works?

This perspective doesn't make sense to me, but it's how a majority of people think.

[rektide]

RCS will let anyone react with an emoji[1], which is like 95% of what people want/need/use. But ironically, the non-standard proprietary iPhone users all think everyone else is the problem, even though them & their phone is the non-partcipatory jank holding us back.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/23/23475819/google-messages...

[zinekeller]

Sadly, Google have co-opted to run RCS (https://jibe.google.com/) and most people have now serious doubts if Google will ruin messaging again like how they ruined Hangouts. In all of this time, Apple maintained iMessage with not much fanfare so I am not surprised that most people just shrugged Google's campaign: everyone is tired of Google's irrationality.

Also the US carriers are only "supporting" RCS because they have no choice in the manner - Google pushed it hard. Imagine if Google have pulled the plug, would the carriers still maintain it?

[pietro72ohboy]

> Sadly, Google have co-opted to run RCS (https://jibe.google.com/) and most people have now serious doubts if Google will ruin messaging again like how they ruined Hangouts.

Even though there’s nuance to this (RCS is a standard but Google’s running their own server with E2E extensions), this statement is a common ruse to deflect the blame onto Google. All modern instant messaging services are centralised. This entire “Google runs RCS” debate is a straw man to deflect blame onto Google. Meanwhile, Apple is the party that doesn’t want anyone plugging into its walled garden.

[zinekeller]

> All modern instant messaging services are centralised. This entire “Google runs RCS” debate is a straw man to deflect blame onto Google. Meanwhile, Apple is the party that doesn’t want anyone plugging into its walled garden.

And this is precisely why. If RCS services were being operated by any other company, even Amazon, there isn't that problem of "what if Google pulled this out again" and RCS might be more palatable to the point that Apple will be forced to integrate it. Instead, Google pushed RCS out because they knew that they screwed up Hangouts hard.

[kotaKat]

Everyone ran an SMSC (and MMSC) just fine. There was no "centralized" messaging in cellular telephony in the past, just loosely linked carriers.

Until now, where suddenly Google seems to be the only RCS operator in town because hardly any carriers want to run their own RCS infrastructure.

[hulitu]

> Sure, you could use another messaging app, but why couldn't they just buy the phone that always works?

Your definition of "works" is strange. Apple is not able to display a menu name when you use a bigger font.

[ThePowerOfFuet]

> Sure, you could use another messaging app, but why couldn't they just buy the phone that always works?

They _used_ to always work, but Apple's software quality has been declining over the years.

[orbisvicis]

Not having an iphone is a good way to get out of conversations with people you don't want to converse with.

[matthew28845]

Case in point, anyone who loses a date by not having an iPhone is dodging a bullet.

[auxfil]

Haha, yeah, ok buddy.

[DangitBobby]

If phone preference is an actionable signal of eligibility to them, it probably wasn't gonna work out.

[howinteresting]

Having or being willing to make a Signal account (which makes the phone irrelevant) is an actually pretty great quality filter for dates in my experience.

[throwaway81523]

I once got a date by telling the person I had ten laptop computers and no Facebook account.