Wait.... *trying to find sympathy for the wireless carriers*, nope, nothing. Suck it Verizon, AT&T et al.
Yep, they brought it on to themselves. Other than the $5 plan I refused to pay for the higher text upgrade plans and used WhatsApp for years. I can take a few texts from no iPhone users out of the base 200 I get with the $5 plan. This will make it that much more easier for me to avoid going over my limit.
I am an iPhone user with iPhone-using family and friends. But not ALL of them use iPhones. I (and I would think he) would still want the ability to text those people.
It seems pretty hard to turn off texting completely. There was a time when I wanted to do that, but never figured out how to do so. You can still text those people. You will probably be able to get away with a less expensive plan, or pay the a la carte rate, so you're not really cutting yourself off from anyone.
There are apps such as TextFree that allow free texting to anyone, but for foreign texting, they either don't work, or you have to pay fees. Maybe that will change, but this seems good to text my daughter who is in the UK when in school.
Carriers need to know they can have an edge over the customers but not Apple. Playtime is over. I think the carriers should also be concerned about iCloud. It's a message from Apple telling them the standard they're setting for this year and that they better be fair (pricing) and ready (capacity).
Apple needs to release an Android client for this. Too many people I know do not have iPhones.
There is WhatsApp and it works on iPhones (not iPads or iPods for a stupid reason by the developer), Android, BBs, and others. However, their messages and app are slow.
iMessage will only work if you are trying to text to another iOS device. What if the other device does not have iOS (most do not have iOS)? What if you don't know if the other side has iOS? Wireless Carriers offer a ubiquitous texting service...which is easy to use, always on, and works with any texting device.
Apple is trying to lock in people to their architecture.....just like Google is. This is starting to get dangerous.
*sigh* Ohh GOD! Here comes the tin foil hat brigade.
It has everything to do with competition with BB and you aren't obligated to use iMessage. Sure Apple would love for you to use their services. What company doesn't want you to use their services so they can make money off of you?
You will probably be able to get away with a less expensive plan, or pay the a la carte rate, so you're not really cutting yourself off from anyone.
Right, and I think I will use iMessages all the time. But Gruber seems to think he can drop SMS altogether. I just don't see that happening. Granted I'm not in his shoes but I doubt every person he would ever text is using an iDevice.
Still, this is a step in the right direction. I think over time we will see standard SMS slowly fade away. No complaints from me.
There are apps such as TextFree that allow free texting to anyone, but for foreign texting, they either don't work, or you have to pay fees. Maybe that will change, but this seems good to text my daughter who is in the UK when in school.
Not true. I am able to text back and forth from Europe to the US, and vice versa, without charge.
It may have been a surprise, but with the way carriers are moving, tiered data, the consumer has to get some savings somewhere.
A few things that this will affect:
1. price of tiered data (carriers want money and this will case them to lose revenue on messaging)
2. it could hint at upcoming changes that Apple is trying/going to make (there's been a lot of talk about buying from Apple and having carriers compete or additional carriers/a true world iPhone)
3. carriers realize the money is in data, so they are moving to tiered data (T-mobile slows you down and Sprint has yet to change, but it's only a matter of time before they move in that direction or add additional charges onto phones, like they have in the past)
4. the implications of the article don't make sense, how many people are only going to use only WiFi? they might use mostly WiFi, but not all WiFi, meaning that the carrier is going to get data usage meaning that megabyte plan won't work and people will sign up for higher tiered plans, so that they don't go over (more data usage, which is what tiered data is for)
5. iMessage doesn't completely replaced what we're use to (not everyone has an iPhone or iDevice and an iPod Touch needs WiFi or a hot spot or some sort of internet connection)
6. Even Verizon showed that they benefit from a partnership with Apple (Carriers need Apple, so ultimately they won't be mad or threaten anything)
7. Text and other messaging is essentially given away, depending on how much texting you do, you pay only a fraction of what you would without the added feature (pay a fee, get unlimited messaging)
Oh, yeah. That's happening this side of 1994, that's for sure.
The idea behind iMessage is that in less than a year, too many people you know won't have anything but iOS devices.
Listen to me. Apple has given everyone on the planet free infinite texting.
If that doesn't instantly appeal to the younger scene, I don't know what does.
Seriously, I really don't know what appeals to kids these days. Do they still text out the wazoo? Then their parents will buy them iOS devices so they don't have to pay out the ear for texting plans. And then they'll get them for themselves so they can message back and forth.
Free text. Images. Video. FREE. INFINITE. The carriers are dead.
I'd bet the carriers will certainly not advertise that feature at their stores. i may seriously reconsider my texting plan since most of my text messages are sent to folks with iPhones.
Down in the Antipodes, our plans include sms in our c.$350-500+ caps, so it's not going to make a huge difference to us - except for those who send dozens of the things per day! But it's nice to have an easy native alternative, as most of my friends either have iPhones or dumb-phones I'll use this for the former and regular sms for the latter.
*sigh* Ohh GOD! Here comes the tin foil hat brigade.
It has everything to do with competition with BB and you aren't obligated to use iMessage. Sure Apple would love for you to use their services. What company doesn't want you to use their services so they can make money off of you?
Thank you. It becomes so irritating reading the rants about how some new feature doesn't do exactly what that person wants. These same people will love it a year from now. As others said, NOBODY is forcing you to use iMessage or an iOS device. You are choosing to.
As soon as I saw them messaging between iPad and iPhone, i wondered how this would work. Would the iPhone have two separate messaging apps, one called iMessaging for chatting between iOS users and another called Messages for everyone else? Would messages from your iPad be free but messages from your iPhone still count toward your texting plan? Now it sounds as though neither is true, and that there is a single messaging app that happens to send messages to iOS devices outside the carrier's messaging plan. But assuming a person doesnt know who in their address book does and doesn't have an iPhone, how will the user know which messages are costing them and which are free? Will they be visually marked somehow? What if my friend has an iPad and an android phone; will iMessaging somehow notify me which he's texting me from so that I can know if its counting against my cellular texting plan or not? It all seems very confusing.
Comments
Wait.... *trying to find sympathy for the wireless carriers*, nope, nothing. Suck it Verizon, AT&T et al.
Yep, they brought it on to themselves. Other than the $5 plan I refused to pay for the higher text upgrade plans and used WhatsApp for years. I can take a few texts from no iPhone users out of the base 200 I get with the $5 plan. This will make it that much more easier for me to avoid going over my limit.
I am an iPhone user with iPhone-using family and friends. But not ALL of them use iPhones. I (and I would think he) would still want the ability to text those people.
It seems pretty hard to turn off texting completely. There was a time when I wanted to do that, but never figured out how to do so. You can still text those people. You will probably be able to get away with a less expensive plan, or pay the a la carte rate, so you're not really cutting yourself off from anyone.
Apple is trying to lock in people to their architecture.....just like Google is. This is starting to get dangerous.
Does Apple require that you use iMessage? Or only in some paranoid portion of your brain?
I see it as a good thing for the customers, AT&T has been charging $30 every month for unlimited data, but not including text plans.
Hate to burst your bubble, but Unlimited Data, unless your grandfathered in has been non-existent for the the past year on AT&T.
Apple needs to release an Android client for this. Too many people I know do not have iPhones.
There is WhatsApp and it works on iPhones (not iPads or iPods for a stupid reason by the developer), Android, BBs, and others. However, their messages and app are slow.
iMessage is basically iChat for iOS.
Apple needs to release an Android client for this. Too many people I know do not have iPhones.
For which version of Android should Apple create a specific client?
iMessage will only work if you are trying to text to another iOS device. What if the other device does not have iOS (most do not have iOS)? What if you don't know if the other side has iOS? Wireless Carriers offer a ubiquitous texting service...which is easy to use, always on, and works with any texting device.
Apple is trying to lock in people to their architecture.....just like Google is. This is starting to get dangerous.
*sigh* Ohh GOD! Here comes the tin foil hat brigade.
It has everything to do with competition with BB and you aren't obligated to use iMessage. Sure Apple would love for you to use their services. What company doesn't want you to use their services so they can make money off of you?
You will probably be able to get away with a less expensive plan, or pay the a la carte rate, so you're not really cutting yourself off from anyone.
Right, and I think I will use iMessages all the time. But Gruber seems to think he can drop SMS altogether. I just don't see that happening. Granted I'm not in his shoes but I doubt every person he would ever text is using an iDevice.
Still, this is a step in the right direction. I think over time we will see standard SMS slowly fade away. No complaints from me.
There are apps such as TextFree that allow free texting to anyone, but for foreign texting, they either don't work, or you have to pay fees. Maybe that will change, but this seems good to text my daughter who is in the UK when in school.
Not true. I am able to text back and forth from Europe to the US, and vice versa, without charge.
A few things that this will affect:
1. price of tiered data (carriers want money and this will case them to lose revenue on messaging)
2. it could hint at upcoming changes that Apple is trying/going to make (there's been a lot of talk about buying from Apple and having carriers compete or additional carriers/a true world iPhone)
3. carriers realize the money is in data, so they are moving to tiered data (T-mobile slows you down and Sprint has yet to change, but it's only a matter of time before they move in that direction or add additional charges onto phones, like they have in the past)
4. the implications of the article don't make sense, how many people are only going to use only WiFi? they might use mostly WiFi, but not all WiFi, meaning that the carrier is going to get data usage meaning that megabyte plan won't work and people will sign up for higher tiered plans, so that they don't go over (more data usage, which is what tiered data is for)
5. iMessage doesn't completely replaced what we're use to (not everyone has an iPhone or iDevice and an iPod Touch needs WiFi or a hot spot or some sort of internet connection)
6. Even Verizon showed that they benefit from a partnership with Apple (Carriers need Apple, so ultimately they won't be mad or threaten anything)
7. Text and other messaging is essentially given away, depending on how much texting you do, you pay only a fraction of what you would without the added feature (pay a fee, get unlimited messaging)
Oh, yeah. That's happening this side of 1994, that's for sure.
The idea behind iMessage is that in less than a year, too many people you know won't have anything but iOS devices.
Listen to me. Apple has given everyone on the planet free infinite texting.
If that doesn't instantly appeal to the younger scene, I don't know what does.
Seriously, I really don't know what appeals to kids these days. Do they still text out the wazoo? Then their parents will buy them iOS devices so they don't have to pay out the ear for texting plans. And then they'll get them for themselves so they can message back and forth.
Free text. Images. Video. FREE. INFINITE. The carriers are dead.
I'd bet the carriers will certainly not advertise that feature at their stores. i may seriously reconsider my texting plan since most of my text messages are sent to folks with iPhones.
Apple needs to release an Android client for this. Too many people I know do not have iPhones.
Computer says no.
*sigh* Ohh GOD! Here comes the tin foil hat brigade.
It has everything to do with competition with BB and you aren't obligated to use iMessage. Sure Apple would love for you to use their services. What company doesn't want you to use their services so they can make money off of you?
Thank you. It becomes so irritating reading the rants about how some new feature doesn't do exactly what that person wants. These same people will love it a year from now. As others said, NOBODY is forcing you to use iMessage or an iOS device. You are choosing to.