RCS Business Messaging · Video Lessons

Will Apple Support RCS Messaging?

In this article, we talk about RCS and reveal the current RCS adoption rate prediction for the United States and Apple’s role in the future developments of this messaging protocol.  RCS Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol known popularly as Chat, is a modern take on texting that combines features from Facebook MessengeriMessage, and WhatsApp into one platform. Chat is a new interactive protocol that allows group chats, video, audio, and high-resolution images, and looks and functions a lot like iMessage and other rich messaging apps.

According to Nick Lane, founder, and chief industry analyst from mobile market research company Mobilesquared, RCS messaging will have 100 million United States users by the end of 2020.

The important question is however: Will iPhone holders be a part of those 100 million users?

 

Apple’s Future Relationship with RCS

Nick says that Apple iPhone holders are not going to be a part of those users. However, the multinational still needs to adopt RCS messaging at a certain point. This is because the GSMA mandates that brands can only use a 5G logo if they agree to make RCS their default mobile messaging platform.

The GSMA thereby forces Apple to go along with the new rich communication services protocol. That is, if the company wants to use 5G, and doesn’t come up with its own technological solution in the meantime.

 

What Will Be Apple’s Approach When It Decides to Support RCS?

Nick beliefs that, when it comes to supporting RCS, Apple will adopt the P2P (Peer to Peer) side of the messaging system. It will do this to ensure that iPhone users have a consistent experience across multiple devices.

At the moment, if somebody sends an iMessage to an Android phone, then that message transforms into a regular SMS on the Android device. Apple and Android both want to avoid that a rich message turns into an SMS on their devices.

So the peer to peer side of the RCS messaging protocol is something Apple will support according to Nick Lane.

The other side, which is Rich Business Messaging (RBM) is something that Apple will not adopt. This is because the brand does not want to support its two biggest competitors, which are Samsung and Google. Instead, it will much likely stick with its own Apple Business Chat (ABC).

 

The Difference Between RCS and Apple Business Chat

Both RCS and Apple Business Chat are very different from each other. RCS is an outbound, RBM model, whereas Apple Business Chat is more an inbound model like, for example, WhatsApp.

With an inbound model, consumers send messages to brands, instead of the brands sending messages to them.

It remains to be seen if Apple is also going to develop an outbound model for its messaging platform.

According to Nick’s sources, there is no interest from Apple to make such an outbound system, because the company believes that this could cause damage its brand name.

 

Interested to Learn More?

If you are interested to see how Apple Business Chat works, then you can watch our ABC demo videos on the Tatango YouTube channel.

If you are more an Android device fan/user and like to see what you can do with RCS messaging, then check out this YouTube playlist.

And if you have any questions regarding RCS messaging, Apple Business Chat or regular text messaging, then you can get in touch with us via this contact form.

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