Apple Reveals That They Killed Plans To Bring iMessage To Android

Back in the day, one of the reasons why BlackBerry was as popular as it was was because of its messenger service, BBM. Back then, all the “cool kids” had BBM and the only way to get BBM was to buy a BlackBerry phone. Now, Apple has tried to replicate this with its iMessage platform, but it seems that at one point in time, they almost brought the feature onto Android.

This is according to the legal proceedings between Apple and Epic where according to the court filings, it was revealed that Apple had acknowledged that they were initially planning to bring iMessage over onto Android, but ultimately decided not to. This was confirmed by Apple exec Eddy Cue, and it was also later revealed by another Apple exec, Craig Federighi, that bringing iMessage to Android could actually be detrimental to the iPhone’s success.

According to Federighi, iMessage on Android would remove the “obstacle” of iPhone families giving their kids an Android phone instead of an iPhone. Basically, by making iMessage an iOS exclusive, people who wanted to use the platform would have no choice but to buy an Apple product, whether it be an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

It’s actually an interesting revelation and we can’t say we’re too surprised, although based on this, those hoping to see iMessage arrive for non-iOS platforms in the future probably shouldn’t hold their breath.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Android, imessage, iOS