Too Bad iMessage is Still Closed

David Pierce gets it, and the only thing Apple is gaining from keeping iMessage/FaceTime restricted to apple devices is the likelihood that nobody will ever go all-in with iMessage!

Apple is forcing everyone — android and iOS users alike — to have all iMessage’s competition — on their phones as well, given that there is no messaging platform (yet) to rule them all.

iMessage is close. The UI is clean and works. People are used to it and love it. Android users would stay with it (perhaps even (gasp) PAY for the app on the Google Play store) even if they ditched iOS as a whole.

Over time, the reasons why iMessage is a compelling lock-in to stay on the all-Apple ecosystem will get smaller and smaller the more Hangouts/Allo, Messenger, We Chat and the like chew away at the blue-bubbled ecochamber that is iMessage.