Why Apple missed the opportunity to lead communication with *texting*.

Disclaimer: I love Apple. I have been using an iPhone for the past 6 years and I hold a MacBook Air + an iPad. No Android.

I wonder if this is one of the few misteps of a godlike figure like Steve but when I look at what Apple did with iMessages I can’t stop but wonder WHY they didn’t create a separate cross-platform-app and instead decided to stick to something that would only work on iOS.

Seriously.

I am a geek. I read a ton and interact on the web but I do not us SMS. I do very little of it and only when forced (you know when that thing called ‘internet’ is down ? or when your mom still sms’s you).

Wait a second I do text but I don’t use the standard SMS client you’d find on iPhone. Instead I use WhatsApp. Why ? Because everyone I care about uses it.

It’s not as beautiful as Path AND yes I had to download it - but it works. It lets you send messages to people you love for free. That’s all that is needed to succeed.

What did Apple do wrong?

It’s so obvious that just seems silly.

1. By Integrating iMessage within the SMS app they were ahead of the curve. After all this is what FB is trying to do with FB Messages and Google with Hangouts. BUT in doing so they completely failed to create magic around such a potentially disruptive app. I don’t send many Texts so it took a *very* long time for me to realize that IF I were to send a Text to someone using an iPhone I would not pay for that text. Seriously APPLE where is the marketing in that ?
2. By making iMessage a *close* system (in total Apple-style) they did the opposite of what you’d consider smart. It goes like this: ‘’Apple announces a great new app that lets you send Texts for free across all phones. It is called iMessage. And it revolutionizes Messaging.’’ I can already imagine Steve announcing it. That would have allowed to cross pollinate other platforms (Android mainly) with an Apple product (software) and introduced people to Apple (the brand). Instead Apple decided to limit the usability of iMessage and in doing so making it useless in 6 out of 10 cases. Outside of the US Android is growing at a much higher rate than iOS and this is something Apple needs to recognize.