The 0.84 seconds in Apple’s WWDC that Shook the Messaging World

  • Post author:
  • Post category:
    messaging

Table of Contents

Ronak Shah talked about redesigned tap backs and scheduled messages, text formatting and text effects, and iMessage and SMS via satellite. He spoke of how satellite iMessaging was end-to-end encrypted. Then, Apple’s head of Internet Technologies Product Marketing moved on to email. If you were watching the WWDC keynote live, hoping for RCS support confirmation, this is where you probably got dejected.

But the confirmation came in a 0.84-second clip during Craig Federighi’s summary. If you weren’t listening for it, you might have missed the announcement: Apple will support RCS messaging. Whew! Yes! Finally! A messaging industry that lately feels more divided than united gave itself a collective high-five.

Of course, in a now much-shared screenshot, the announcement is clear as hindsight.

What’s Next

I’ve written quite a bit about all the work that needs to be done for RBM, the A2P version of RCS, to rise to the occasion. The Apple red herring has disappeared, the dog has caught the car. What’s next?

Author’s Note: Yes, using multiple metaphors is messy writing, but these are messy times.

Now is as good a time as any to provide some pointers including:

  1. The RCS Killer App
  2. Apple Signals the End of SMS
  3. Why Every Brand Should Have an RCS Strategy
  4. The Dog Caught the Car, Now What?
  5. The Four Investments You Must Make
  6. RCS and the Right to Use a Brand
  7. The Biggest Opportunity in RCS Pricing
  8. RCS and the End of the Hunt-And-Peck User Journey
  9. Is Apple Turning Up The Heat?

Finally

I share these articles to remind us of all the work that needs to be done, not to gloat.

I do not believe what follows next will be automatic or easy. Remember the mess when Apple first supported MMS? Cross-platform interoperability will take our collective ambition, grit, and patience. It will test our willingness to compromise and collaborate anew.

Since starting this blog over three years ago, I’ve always maintained that interoperability is messaging’s secret sauce. And that this hard, messy, yeoman’s work is our daily bread.

Tags: