Apple and Google in Talks to Expand BlueBubbles Chat to Android Phones in India
Apple is in discussion with its rival, Google to introduce Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging in Android phones to Indian mobile users this year. This will allow Apple to expand its BlueBubble chat feature, which is currently exclusive to iPhone devices. It is possible that this partnership could disrupt India’s business and personal communications, which was once dominated by SMS and now taken over by Whats App.
The enhanced messaging on the Google’s RCS, is accessible for P2P (person-to-person) communication in many countries including, the US, Canada, and the UK. Apple and Google have partnered on backend integration, allowing Apple’s iMessage to work on Google’s servers, which are part of carrier networks. They plan to follow a similar strategy in India, by partnering with Indian telecoms giants such as Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio. Nevertheless, Bharti Airtel has opted against adopting Google’s RCS due to concerns about spam, calling for more regulation on over-the-top (OTT) services like RCS.
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The integration between Apple, Google, and telecoms is expected to improve RCS messaging, which will be exchanged over mobile data or Wi-Fi rather than SMS.
This could be crucial for A2P (application-to-person) messaging, commonly used by businesses such as banks and e-commerce platforms for official communications. Apple’s collaboration in RCS will help in the expansion of the ecosystem, particularly for direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses, by tapping into nearly 100 million premium smartphone users in India.