It’s no secret that Apple sees iMessage as a big enough selling point to keep the service exclusive to Apple devices, but new lawsuits filed by Epic Games in its ongoing lawsuit with the company show how Apple executives are making their decision. have rationalized to no version of iMessage for Android.
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Apple clearly recognizes the power iMessage has in keeping users loyal to its platforms, particularly in the US, and Epic uses both emails and extracts from statements with Apple executives Eddie Cue, Craig Federighi and Phil Schiller to tell its story. reinforce that Apple is trying to lock customers into its ecosystem.
For example, the document cites an email from 2016 in which an unnamed former Apple employee complained that iMessage “amounts to a serious lock-in,” prompting Schiller to respond: “Moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more then do help us, this illustrates this why. “
a. As early as 2013, Apple decided not to develop a version of iMessage for the Android operating system. (Cue Department 92: 22-93: 1.)
b. Mr Cue testified that Apple “could have made a version on Android that worked with iOS” such that there would have been “cross-compatibility with the iOS platform, allowing users of both platforms to seamlessly exchange messages with each other.” (Cue Dep. 92: 5-9; 92: 11-16.)
c. However, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering and iOS manager, feared that “iMessage on Android would simply serve to [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their children Android phones “. (PX407, in ‘122.)
d. Phil Schiller, an Apple manager responsible for the App Store, agreed that Apple should not offer iMessage on Android devices. (Cue Dep. 92: 18-93: 1.)
e. In 2016, when a former Apple employee commented that “the # 1 hardest [reason] iMessage is to exit the Apple Universe app. IMessage amounts to a serious lock-in “on the Apple ecosystem, Mr. Schiller noted that” moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us, this email illustrates why “(PX416 , in ‘610; Cue Dep. 114: 14 -115: 2.)
As Cue’s comments show, Apple was able to develop an Android version of iMessage as early as 2013, but chose not to as it would remove an obstacle that prevents families from using Android phones. to give.
In 2016, rumors began around the possibility that Apple would launch a version of iMessage for Android smartphones due to the company’s increased focus on services, but senior Apple executives scrapped those rumors by admitting they have a superior messaging platform that only supports Apple devices would help sell those devices, which has been the company’s classic (and successful) rationale for years.
Apple distributes some apps in the Google Play Store for Android, such as Apple Music, Move to iOS (for users moving from an Android smartphone to an iPhone), and Beats, an app used to pair with Beats products running Android devices.