Apple's Reason For Not Bringing iMessage to Android Revealed

Apple's reason for not bringing its popular iMessage service to Android was revealed in an Epic Games legal filing this week.

According to Epic Games, SVP Eddy 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 so that users of both platforms would have been able to exchange messages with one another seamlessly”. (Cue Dep. 92:5-9; 92:11-16.)


SVP Craig Federighi feared that “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones”. (PX407, at ‘122.)

Phil Schiller agreed that Apple should not offer iMessage on Android devices. (Cue
Dep. 92:18-93:1.).

In 2016, when a former Apple employee commented that “the #1 most difficult [reason] to leave the Apple universe app is iMessage. . . iMessage amounts to serious lock-in” to the Apple ecosystem, Mr. Schiller commented that “moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us, this email illustrates why”. (PX416, at ‘610; Cue Dep. 114:14-115:2.)

The Epic Games vs Apple trial begins on May 3. Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for further updates.


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