14 DAY TRIAL // While WhatsApp is currently the world’s number one messaging platform, users out there are provided with all kinds of alternatives, including iMessage, the native iPhone offering.
On the other hand, the main shortcoming of iMessage is that it’s limited to the Apple ecosystem, as the Cupertino-based tech giant has never released an Android version of the app. And needless to say, the company doesn’t seem to be interested in doing it anyway.
It’s not difficult to figure out why iMessage on Android would never happen, as many people believe that Apple uses it as an incentive for potential customers to get an iPhone.
Speaking with The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern earlier this week, Apple’s Craig Federighi provided us with a closer look at the main reason why iMessage isn’t being released on Android.
Federighi says bringing iMessage to Android would make it harder for the company to innovate on this front.
“If we’re going to enter a market and go down the road of building an application, we have to be in it in a way that’s going to make a difference. That we would have a lot of customers that we would be able to deliver great experiences. This comes at a real cost. And, my fear was that we weren’t in a position to do that,” he says.
“And so if we just shipped an app that really didn’t get critical mass on other platforms what it would have accomplished is that it would have held us back in innovating in all the ways we wanted to innovate in messages for our customers, and wouldn’t really have accomplished much at all in any other way. And so, we just felt, pick where you can make a difference. Pick where you’re going to invest and do it where you make a difference and this seemed like a throwaway that wasn’t going to serve the world honestly.”
No further information has been shared on the long-term plans regarding iMessage, but it’s probably safe to assume that an Android version is out of the question for the time being.