RCS lets users share photos and videos, see when others are typing, and set up group chats–in other words, much of what the OTT apps already offer. But RCS also offers operators control over how messages are delivered. If a user sends a message to another RCS user, then it is delivered over the internet. But if the other user isn’t on RCS, then it’ll be sent as a regular text message. Unlike a chat app, and similar to Apple’s iMessage, users don’t have to worry about sending messages to people who also have the app downloaded.
This goes to show how ignorant I am. I honestly thought Google had an iMessage competitor. Blackberry has BBM, Apple has iMessage and Google has? Hangouts? I don’t know what they had but I thought they had something. No wonder these 3rd party messaging services are doing so well. I’ve never used Facebook Messenger, Whats App or whatever else is out there because I use iMessage and if a friend doesn’t have an iOS device, I use Google Voice. It works.
Google is really late to this party but I guess “finally”?