It puzzles and bewilders me that every so often, Apple seem to release a new feature as if it had never existed before.With Apple’s new release of iMessages in iOS 5.0, I’m a little confused. From a quick overview, it looks just like an Apple version of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). However, when you boil down to what it actually does, the purpose it serves to users, it does nothing different to what the iPhone’s pre-existing inbuilt iChat functionality, dating back from 3 years ago, did and still does. How does iMessages differ and why will people be using this instead?
I’m still battling with the question: why didn’t they integrate iChat more into the device similar to the way Android did with Google Talk which auto signs in and runs in the background most of the time allowing people to ping you any time of day? From personal experience, I use Google Talk to communicate with some friends more than I would with SMS, but I still use SMS occasionally. Not everyone uses Google Talk, but you don’t need to have an Android to get it.
And this leads me to my next point. I’m still failing to see how iMessages means an end to carriers and SMS, particularly since iMessages is an iPhone to iPhone only service/app, and with Android quickly growing to become the main OS in the UK, I don’t see SMS going anywhere soon. Nor do I see iMessages being the main pull/retainer for customers from Android to iPhone if that’s what this is about. There are just too many better substitutes out there.
Revolutionary? I think not. Overstated hype designed to keep customers where they are? Totally.
However, please, please prove me wrong! There must be something I’m missing…
