The whole argument is ridiculous because it's only the messages that you wrote and sent that are even on a blue or green color. The messages you read are always on the same light gray background regardless of how they sent.
kirklennon
Apple put green bubbles in their app to annoy their own users
Out of curiosity, when do you think Apple started using green bubbles?
They're going to implement the open standard ... which isn't what most Android users are actually using. Does Google's Messages app gracefully transition to the RCS standard if that's what the other person is using?
Do you honestly think Apple cares about Nothing in any capacity? They are irrelevant and apply zero market pressure on Apple.
Anyone texting in from hardware other than an iPhone will still get the funky balloon color, eh?
Green was always the default in the Messages app. Apple added blue to distinguish new iMessages. I see no reason for RCS not to stay with the default green.
Other than support for superior data transfer speeds, energy carrying ability, and durability? Yeah, it would be that it is an almost universal standard outside of the Iphone.
I specifically said the physical design of Lightning is superior
A defacto standard for more or less only Iphones, as Apple switched almost all of their other products to use USB-C once it reached mass adoption.
The iPhone and all of Apple's accessories (such as AirPods) used Lightning up until a couple of months ago. The keyboards and mice still use Lightning. A connector used on well over a billion devices has all of the practical advantages for consumers of being a standard even if it's nominally proprietary.
You could make this argument against the adoption of any new standard, again baring in mind that once upon a time lightning stood was the new standard that faced this exact criticism.
Yes, which is why companies should always be reluctant to change unless the new option is significantly better. Lightning was way better than anything else available and was worth the inconvenience of the change. The benefits were real and obvious to all users. The transition to USB-C is ... less compelling for users.
how is Lightning better than a USB-C?
It's physically smaller, doesn't require the thin little piece inside the port on the device, and the rounded corners make it easier to insert without lining up perfectly. To clarify, I'm not saying this makes USB-C bad, but the physical design just isn't as good.
Be real here: Apple only stuck with Lightning because it’s stupid easy money for them. Cables are hella cheap to make, and if you make them in-house, you basically spend like $2 at most to manufacture 1 cable.
Third parties sell Lightning cables and Apple sells USB-C cables (really nice ones, actually). There's no significant monetary impact to Apple regardless of which connector they have.
Lightning has the upside of both that and forcing people into the Apple ecosystem because their old phone cables can charge the new phones.
I thought the whole argument in favor of USB-C was that because it's a standard, people already have cables for it or can buy them for dirt cheap. If that's the case, the fact that people also have Lightning cables wouldn't be a major reason to stick with an iPhone when upgrading.
They might be able to relay them in a way that the end to end encryption is actually handled on the phone and the relay only relays encrypted messages.
They'd need to control the app on both phones in order to control what it's encrypting/decrypting. Their system only works because they've got a device in the middle separately decrypting/re-encrypting each message. Google's Messages app can't read iMessages; Apple's Messages app can't read Google's proprietary encrypted RCS messages.
Of course if you want universally cross-platform messaging, complete with full-resolution photos and available with end-to-end encryption, there's this crazy new technology called "email." I feel like there's a missed opportunity for making setting up S/MIME easier.
Yes, that's two years, and we're also needing to look at hardware engineering decisions made in 2011 (since major components are finalized long in advance). Even if they knew then that USB-C would be ready in three years, that doesn't mean it necessarily justifies keeping the dock connector that much longer, but there was also no guarantee it would be a viable option in 2014. How long do you stick with inferior options when you can just to it better yourself sooner? We have to keep in mind the reason we like industry standards in the first place. Ideally they lead to a better customer experience; they are not a goal in and of themselves, just because they are a standard.
My point is that there were very real, entirely legitimate reasons why it was good for Apple's customers that Apple introduced Lightning.
Back when that would've been a good argument... but why then when USB-C did become a thing, and became robust and well-supported enough that even Apple used it on every other device they sold, didn't they adopt it onto the IPhone despite lightning being an inferior standard in basically every way?
What's the advantage of using USB-C? Because it's a standard, right? A standard means wide support and it works with what you already have. Except Apple had effectively already established that with Lightning. It was in hundreds of millions of devices before USB-C became mainstream. Sure USB-C was nominally standard, but Lightning maintained the advantages for Apple's customers as a de facto standard. The switch to USB-C meant buying new cables, while Lightning meant using the cables you already had.
they could have contributed towards a combined connector with the usb-if
There was already one in the works but it was still years ago. They wanted to ditch the dock connector and didn't want to wait forever.
iMessage is basically a non-player in the EU; Apple already has an extremely compelling legal argument against any regulation on that front. There's no indication whatsoever that an announced workaround from a niche player had any bearing on Apple's decision.