Mikey Campbell
An unconfirmed, and somewhat tenuous, rumor on Thursday claims iMessage will be Apple's next Android release, with the company potentially planning a debut next week at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
Citing anonymous sources, MacDailyNews reports Apple plans to announce iMessage for Android at Monday's WWDC 2016 keynote event, a move that could significantly expand the service's footprint. The publication lacks a measurable track record when it comes to Apple product predictions, though rumors of an official Messages app port have been circulating for some time.
Apple is looking to build out its software services offerings by extending support beyond devices running iOS and OS X, the source said. While no mean feat, adding Android compatibility to iMessage would be relatively straightforward as the product's backend resides in the cloud.
Announcing a Messages expansion at WWDC would not be unprecedented for Apple, which at last year's conference revealed Apple Music would run on Android. Apple Music later landed on the Google Play store as Apple's first in-house developed Android app offering.
For Apple, gaining a foothold on Google's flagship OS gives its customer base access to a trusted — end-to-end encrypted — messaging service compatible with a majority of the world's smartphones. Giving Android stalwarts a taste of iOS design and security might also drive platform churn. During its most recent quarterly conference call in April, Apple said Android switch rates hit an all-time highs over the first fiscal half of 2016.
Barring a debut next week, the publication's sources claim Messages will launch later this year.
AppleInsider will be reporting live from WWDC 2016 starting with the keynote presentation on Monday, June 13 at 10 a.m. Pacific.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
60 Comments
I'm gonna call "no go" on this rumor. One of my computers is running OS X on non-Apple hardware, and iMessage is the biggest PITA to get working, due to multiple layers of authentication it uses to maintain it's vaunted security. It really is "no mean feat" to completely change it's backend workings to accommodate Android. From my experience and understanding of how the service works, porting it to Android would compromise the security of the service - perhaps it's biggest selling point - because of the inherent fragmentation of that ecosystem. Plus, there are plenty of services out there already that exceed iMessage in functionality, that are already cross-platform. I don't see that Apple stands to gain anything from this rumored expansion of iMessage.
If true, this would be a good move on Apple's part...
While it is certainly possible It really doesn't make a lot of sense if iMessage was a selling point of iOS/MacOS and the hardware to run it. Unlike Apple Music, supporting iMessage on Android earns Apple no money and it is just another costly service to support. On the other hand, if Apple is going to do something big and try to get ahead of Google and Facebook and their respective messengers and bots then interoperability with Android will be required and the only way to ensure end to end encryption. Maybe Apple is going to announce some sort of new content sharing paradigm, like sharing a VR experience or Siri for home automation or a quasi social network and iMessage is a gateway to access and deliver it. iMessage on Android could be the trojan to also allow all kinds of iOS type service like AirDrop, Handoff, Live Photos FaceTime, etc...
Your software leverages your hardware to distinguish it from the competition. iMessage is one such piece. It will be evolved, but not opened up to Android and Samsung.
If this is true that just tells me Apple hardware sales will continue to be soft and they're going to bring changes to iMessage that they can monetize and push to Android as well. I think it's pretty obvious that ads in the App Store are about generating more "services" revenue than anything else.