It is a 14-year-old carrier standard, though, so it lacks many of the features you would want from a modern messaging service, like end-to-end encryption and support for non-phone devices. RCS adds typing indicators, user presence, and better image sharing to carrier messaging. The 'solution' Google is pushing here is RCS, or Rich Communication Services, a GSMA standard from 2008 that has slowly gained traction as an upgrade to SMS. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing.

Let's fix this as one industry.' Google SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer chimed in, too, saying, 'Apple's iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. 'Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. 'iMessage should not benefit from bullying,' the official Android Twitter account wrote. The social pressure is palpable, with some reporting being ostracized or singled out after switching away from iPhones.' Google feels this is a problem.

According to the article, 'Teens and college students said they dread the ostracism that comes with a green text. iMessage brands texts from iPhone users with a blue background and gives them additional features, while texts from Android phones are shown in green and only have the base SMS feature set. The company was responding to a Wall Street Journal report detailing the lock-in and social pressure Apple's walled garden is creating among US teens. Google took to Twitter this weekend to complain that iMessage is just too darn influential with today's kids.

I would pay to use imessage on android