Apple's free iMessage expected to undermine carriers' high-profit SMS business - Page 2

Originally Posted by irnchriz

Note: When sending an iMessage to a compatible contact the send button is blue otherwise its green for SMS. Also, enable delivery receipts and you know that they have received the message pretty quickly after you sent it.

When sending an iMessage (blue send) if the other user is not in a data zone you get a message delivery failure. You can choose to send again (for 'free' with iMessage or choose to send as SMS. It doesn't fail then send it as an SMS without your consent.

You won't pay unless you choose to.

Originally Posted by NasserAE

Except the iPad and iPod touch.

Originally Posted by chriscaskey

I keep seeing this every time I open mail, just installed the new Mac OS 10.7.2

Possibly 'message' coming to Lion? Or just something I've missed? Someone may know something..

Originally Posted by Yuniverse

Our family has 5 lines on AT&T. We lowered the plan to 700 min. Between 5 lines, i know that sounds too little, but we also added $30 unlimited texting which covers all 5 lines ($6 per line for unlimited texting), but the kicker is that you get unlimited mobile minutes from ANY carriers.
Most people use mobile phones now days, so I thought this would be a good plan. What do you guys think?

I guess this is one way for carriers (in this case AT&T) to lure customer to texting plan.

Originally Posted by Yuniverse

Our family has 5 lines on AT&T. We lowered the plan to 700 min. Between 5 lines, i know that sounds too little, but we also added $30 unlimited texting which covers all 5 lines ($6 per line for unlimited texting), but the kicker is that you get unlimited mobile minutes from ANY carriers.
Most people use mobile phones now days, so I thought this would be a good plan. What do you guys think?

I guess this is one way for carriers (in this case AT&T) to lure customer to texting plan.

Originally Posted by Cash907

I just did the same thing. We were at 2100 minutes, but with unlimited nights and weekends, the A List, free AT&T mobile to mobile (now All mobile to mobile) we were hardly putting a dent in that limit. I figure even if we do go over during the holidays, the surplus of 13,000 rollover minutes we've racked up should keep us out of overage territory. Heck, in the last billing cycle, the total talk time for all 5 lines was something like 350 minutes, which just a few years ago wouldn't have been enough for even my wife's line. Text usage, on the other hand... yeah I don't even look at that anymore. Even though it's unlimited, it still blows me away just how many texts we rack up in a 30 day period.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

An SMS message offers the user the ability of sending short bursts of text of up to 160 characters. Report author Jenna Wortham noted that, at rates as high as 20 cents per sent and received message, a user would end up paying $1,500 to send 1MB of text data. The same amount of data costs just 1.25 cents on a $25 per month 2GB data plan.

Originally Posted by AppleZilla

Somebody answer this: Is it free between iOS users OR is it free between iOS 5 users.

Big difference if the latter. My boss has iOS 3 on his 3G and probably will for life.

Originally Posted by lordoftheflatbush

So Whatsapp should sue Apple for stealing their app

Originally Posted by AppleInsider



The New York Times reports that the forthcoming service is being perceived as a threat to mobile operators.

...


However, Apple devices only account for 5 percent of texting traffic each year,

Originally Posted by Neves

... i don't even understand the concept of unlimited nights and weekends.....hope this solves my issue...

Originally Posted by Apple ][

A lot of Blackberry users are running away from RIM. They know that they're on a dead end platform with no future, so they have to make a choice and quite a few of them are ending up on iOS.

Originally Posted by minderbinder

I just don't see this gaining that much traction since it only talks to other iOS (5) devices. You're still going to need to send and receive texts from people who aren't on iOS so the vast majority of people who do texting are still going to need to pay for a texting plan. I guess in some cases going to a cheaper text plan could save a bit of cash, but ATT only offers all or none, and with other companies I suspect many people are on the cheapest one anyway and the difference between the cheapest and the next one up isn't much. And having no texting plan doesn't stop incoming texts unless you specifically have them blocked (assuming all the companies support that).

This just seems like facetime all over again - stuff like this doesn't get used unless it can connect with EVERYONE, not just Apple users. Will they update this to connect with all phones at some point or just leave it to die like all the other proprietary Apple tech?

Originally Posted by minderbinder

I just don't see this gaining that much traction since it only talks to other iOS (5) devices. You're still going to need to send and receive texts from people who aren't on iOS so the vast majority of people who do texting are still going to need to pay for a texting plan. I guess in some cases going to a cheaper text plan could save a bit of cash, but ATT only offers all or none, and with other companies I suspect many people are on the cheapest one anyway and the difference between the cheapest and the next one up isn't much. And having no texting plan doesn't stop incoming texts unless you specifically have them blocked (assuming all the companies support that).

This just seems like facetime all over again - stuff like this doesn't get used unless it can connect with EVERYONE, not just Apple users. Will they update this to connect with all phones at some point or just leave it to die like all the other proprietary Apple tech?

Originally Posted by Crowley

Presumably you mean for the life of the phone, not the life of your boss Because yes, it'll be for iOS 5, which won't go onto a 3G even if he wanted it to. He'll need to upgrade the handset.

Originally Posted by AppleZilla

That doesn't answer my question, which is.

If I am on an iPhone with iOS 5 and someone else is on iOS 4, are messages I send or receive to/from them free? Or do we both have to have iOS 5. Or what?

Originally Posted by ConradJoe

Extrapolating from the recent stats, it seems that less than a third of them are going to iOS and more than twice as many seem to be headed to Android.

Originally Posted by jragosta

What an insanely stupid comparison.

Who in the world would spend $1500 on sending 1 MB of text data? AT&T offers unlimited texting for something like $20 a month for the entire family on family plan.

Originally Posted by regan

With things like yahoo messenger, twitter and now iMessage...why would anyone willingly pay $20 to AT&T for unlimited texting? Ha! What a joke. Or .20cents per text? Even MORE of a joke. When you could text for free. Why would anyone hand over their hard earned money to these greedy telcom companies who are charging a 4,000% mark up from what sending a text really costs them?

It's not like you have to hack/jailbreak your device or something. There are plenty of FREE alternatives.

Originally Posted by Yuniverse

Our family has 5 lines on AT&T. We lowered the plan to 700 min. Between 5 lines, i know that sounds too little, but we also added $30 unlimited texting which covers all 5 lines ($6 per line for unlimited texting), but the kicker is that you get unlimited mobile minutes from ANY carriers.
Most people use mobile phones now days, so I thought this would be a good plan. What do you guys think?

I guess this is one way for carriers (in this case AT&T) to lure customer to texting plan.

Originally Posted by ChristophB

The new Messages app is only in IOS 5. I've heard no rumor or seen anything from the Dev side that indicates Apple will make it downloadable for iPhone Gen1 or Gen2.

Originally Posted by lordoftheflatbush

I like iMessage very much, but it has one disadvantage: its not cross platform. [...] I fear iMessage will be like iChat: great app but not really mainstream due to the fact its bound to the Apple platform only.

Originally Posted by ConradJoe

Somehow, ISTM that even if all the iDevices suddenly stopped using SMS services (which ain't ever gonna happen), 5% is not much of a "threat".

The stats show that iOS device owners send an average amount of text messages: iOS has about 5% of the phone market, and their owners send about 5% of text traffic.

Originally Posted by alcstarheel

She's saying if you don't have a texting plan that would be your per\\text price compared to the data being sent. Some people don't have text plans and are willing to pay the $0.20 each.

Originally Posted by AppleZilla

Then this will be a small pool of iOS users for at least the first year or so. Texts from my boss will still cost me 20 cents, because he will never replace his iPhone 3G.

Sigh.

Originally Posted by DocNo42

Take a look at the earlier article referincing Apples domination in mobile web browsing. Adoption won't be an issue like it was with the Mac.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

iMessage – How it works

The application is part of iOS 5, the company’s latest mobile platform version which will be released on Oct. 12. iOS 5 will be compatible with various iOS devices: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2 and third-generation and newer iPod touch models.

iMessage was unveiled at this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June at what turned out to be the last keynote the late Steve Jobs delivered. One report suggested that Apple’s carrier partners were unaware of the development of such an app, reportedly finding out about it at the same time as the general public.

The app will make instant text-messaging between iOS devices substantially cheaper, even free in some cases, as it only requires a wireless network or a 3G data plan to work. The service should draw special appreciation from users that send a significant amount of SMS messages to friends and family that live in other countries and also happen to own recent models of Apple's mobile offerings.

Unlike SMS messages, iMessage texts are not limited to 160 characters per message. In addition to text, the application lets users share photos, videos, locations and contacts. Also, all sent and received iMessages are securely encrypted.

The app supports multi-device use, so users can pick up chatting with their contacts across any of the iOS devices they own. iMessage features single and group messaging and offers text delivery notifications.

A recent code discovery in Apple’s iChat application suggests the company may be interested in bringing iMessage support to its OS X Lion chatting platform.

Originally Posted by jragosta

I can't imagine many people using SMS for texting and switching to iMessage only when texting another iOS 5.0 user. Just too much of a pain to remember who is using what - and too little advantage. So I expect iMessage to either flop or spread outside of iOS 5.

And the entire premise is flawed. If you can only message with other iOS 5 users, you will still need a text plan, anyway, so it probably won't save you any money (certainly not the people who already have unlimited text plans).

Originally Posted by jragosta

I don't see it. The problem is that many people don't know what phone their contacts are using. So you have to keep both SMS and iMessage handy all the time and there will be times when you choose the wrong one.

Now, if iMessage were so overwhelmingly fantastic that some inconvenience were justified, that would be one thing, but I can't see that it's superior enough to want to mess around with the hassle. Unless it becomes multi platform and catches on significantly, it will be DOA.

Originally Posted by irnchriz

Note: When sending an iMessage to a compatible contact the send button is blue otherwise its green for SMS. Also, enable delivery receipts and you know that they have received the message pretty quickly after you sent it.

When sending an iMessage (blue send) if the other user is not in a data zone you get a message delivery failure. You can choose to send again (for 'free' with iMessage or choose to send as SMS. It doesn't fail then send it as an SMS without your consent.

You won't pay unless you choose to.

Originally Posted by Orlando

SMS is more expensive per message sent but data plans costs a lot more per month so average phone bills are going up; I therefore doubt carriers are complaining that much.