Apple’s Eddy Cue Wanted to Bring iMessage to Android
This little-known fact was revealed by Eddy Cue, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, in a taped deposition for the upcoming Epic Games vs. Apple trial.
In an email exchange between Cue and Craig Federighi, who at the time was managing macOS and iOS software development, Cue opined that Apple should task a full team with porting the complete iMessage experience over to the Android platform.
Here’s an excerpt from Cue’s email to Craig:
Federighi, however, resisted the idea of cross-compatibility with the iOS to let users of both platforms exchange messages. In his response to Cue’s email, Federighi reveals that the company was aware that iMessage doubles as a strong incentive to keep iPhone customers locked into Apple’s ecosystem.
Federighi is referring to the rumor that was circulating back then about Google potentially acquiring WhatsApp. That was, of course, before Facebook swooped in and acquired WhatsApp in February 2014 for an approximate total of $16 billion.
Federighi then shot down the whole idea with the following passage:
“Do you believe that not having iMessage on Android has created an obstacle to families giving their kids Android phones?” the questioner asked Cue in the deposition.
“No, not at all,” the executive said.
The legal documents were unearthed by The Verge.
Why You Cannot Use iMessage on Android
Other legal briefs filed as part of the upcoming Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit have resulted in additional salacious tidbits.
As an example, Apple’s former marketing head Phil Schiller said in an internal email that “moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us.” He was quite probably correct about that because instant messaging was the killer app on mobile almost 10 years ago, plus there was no clear leader in that space.
The wording indicates Apple knew that iMessage has such a strong pull that it keeps many customers away from its main competition.
