Apple finally did the thing, with the company announcing today that RCS is coming to the iPhone in 2024. The announcement comes just two days after Android smartphone maker Nothing announced an iMessage app for its phone.
Coincidence? Yes, and it would be foolish to pretend otherwise.
Apple today announced that RCS is coming to the iPhone. As 9to5Mac and our own coverage breaks down, that’s a big deal as Apple will be using the same Universal Profile that Android phones currently use, meaning cross-compatibility for messaging. It won’t be the death of iMessage, but it should lead to major improvements in the experience of cross-platform messaging.
But, then, there’s the Nothing of it all.
The Carl Pei-led startup on Tuesday announced Nothing Chats, a messaging app that will support iMessage on the company’s Nothing Phone (2) through Sunbird, a pretty sketchy client that has been promising iMessage on Android for a while now. It looks good on the surface (and not all that different from Beeper, another app we rather like that brings iMessage to Android), but for context on why folks may want to be wary about Sunbird, ArsTechnica has a great breakdown.
The timing of the two announcements has had quite a few folks chiming in on social media that, somehow, Nothing’s announcement had anything to do with Apple’s big reveal today. Nothing’s Carl Pei even quickly came out with a Steve Jobs quote that vaguely implied that Nothing’s announcements pushed Apple along, something Pei doubled down on in further replies.
Top comment by Paul W
It's so stop the EU coming for them just like what happens with USB c. The EU doing good again for consumers.
But that’s very clearly not the case, which is obvious for two reasons.
Firstly, there’s just the common sense that Apple isn’t going to move an announcement this significant because of a sketchy app released by an Android smartphone maker that, let’s be honest, most people don’t even know about. Nothing tried to make waves with its announcement yesterday, even getting into major publications like The Washington Post, but ultimately, Apple likely didn’t even think twice (or at all) about “Nothing Chats.”
The other reason it’s obvious that Nothing had nothing to do with this announcement is because of the other thing that’s going on today. The EU’s deadline for appeal for avoiding “gatekeeper” status in the Digital Markets Act is today, and Apple’s announcement of RCS support likely buys the company some goodwill in that legal case (even if it’s unlikely iMessage would be significantly affected by the DMA anyway).
So, no, Nothing didn’t influence Apple’s adoption of RCS, nor did it have anything to do with the timing. It’s silly to think otherwise.
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