By now, most of you have probably read up on iMessages. For those who haven’t, think Blackberry Messenger, but for the iPhone. Apple’s taking a stab at reinventing messaging on mobile devices, and in doing so, they seem to have caught cellular carriers by surprise.
The application allows unlimited text messaging over either Wi-Fi or the cellular network, as well as the ability to send photos, videos, locations, and contacts. When it was announced, most journalists thought the same thing, “Boy, the carriers are going to be pissed.” Why wouldn’t they be pissed? Apple just placed their 2000% markup on text messages in jeopardy, at least for the iOS crowd.
No one was really sure whether or not the carriers knew it was coming yesterday, but this morning, John Gruber seems to have cleared everything up. “Apple’s phone carrier partners around the world found out about iMessages when we did: during today’s keynote.” That’s exactly how it should be. The fact that companies feel the need to appease the carriers, as well as provide them with information about upcoming products, or even give them some sort of say in the matter is detrimental. If the carriers had their say, there would be no iMessages — that isn’t a leap.
Apple did the right thing. I personally have some qualms about iMessages (more on that in a later post), but I have no problem with Apple just releasing it to the masses, carriers included, at the same time.
Hopefully the time of carrier influence over innovation is coming to a rapid end, because frankly, I’m sure most of us are sick of them by now.
Article Via AppleInsider
