Apple has a long history of using their market dominance to their advantage, and it seems they have done so once again. After a long period of silence, Apple has recently revealed plans to block Android users from accessing their popular iMessage App.
This move has raised questions about whether Apple has found a way to restrict Android users’ access to the popular messaging service. While details are still being kept under wraps, some reports have indicated that Apple has put in place several new rules and hidden protocols within its App Store to stop any third-party apps from accessing the iMessage service.
This move from Apple has been seen as a strategic response to Google’s recent move to introduce their new “Chat” app. Slated for launch in the upcoming months, Google’s Chat app will bring all of the features common in iMessage to Android devices. As Apple’s main competitor, the firm feared Google’s launch (and the possibility of users switching over), so much so that it appears they have gone out of their way to block access to any apps that were created to access iMessage from Android devices.
The interesting aspect in this story is that, instead of trying to fight the new Chat app head-on, Apple has instead opted to shut down access to its already existing services in order to make them inaccessible to Android users. This may not win Apple any awards in terms of fairness, but it is certainly an effective (albeit surreptitious) way for the company to safely keep their market share on communication services.
Whether this move was to truly protect Apple’s long-standingliness, or merely to limit competition remains to be seen. For now, the only thing certain is that, for Android users desiring to access iMessage, the search for a workaround is likely to be an arduous one.