[DirkH]

I could just as easily claim there is more of a "they are just capitalists trying to sell a white knight narrative" narrative than an actual white knight narrative.

They're a smaller business that wants to make money, but Apple doesn't want to play fair. I agree with this part of their blog:

“Apple is within their rights to run iMessage how they see fit”

This might be true if Apple was a small company. But they aren’t. They control more than 50% of the US smartphone market, and lock customers into using Apple’s official app for texting (which, in the US, sadly, is the default way people communicate). Large companies that dominate their industry must follow a different set of rules that govern fair competition, harm to consumers and barriers to innovation. We are not experts in antitrust law, but Apple’s actions have already caught the attention of US Congress and the Department of Justice.

[giantrobot]

> Large companies that dominate their industry must follow a different set of rules that govern fair competition, harm to consumers and barriers to innovation.

Must? You're really going to need to provide some actual citations there. Tortured interpretations of anti-trust laws do not count.

[Grustaf]

Yes, there is only the official app to send sms. Do you think anyone cares? Have you ever heard anyone yearn for a third party app to send texts?

[i5-2520M]

Look up some alternative SMS clients on the Play Store and you will see there is a market for it. People on forums have been also complaining about there being no way to do this with RCS.

[Grustaf]

Sure, there are all kinds of people in the world, but would that group represent more or leas than 1% of users?

[DirkH]

You wouldn't know how much demand there could be till you build it, iterate and innovate. You can't ever do that if regulations stifle it completely.

I don't care. But I'd rather live in a world where tinkerers can tinker away since I imagine they'll be able to make something I would care about later as a consumer.

[i5-2520M]

My best guess is probably goint to be more than 1% in markets where SMS is commonly used. Not by much, but more than 1%. Maybe 2-3% tops.

[i5-2520M]

Look up some alternative SMS clients on the Play Store and you will see there is a market for it. People on forums have been also complaining about there being no way to do this with RCS.