Google And Samsung Team Up To Bury iMessages With RCS Texting Collaboration
Google and Samsung are partnering to make text messaging on Android a similar experience to Apple's iMessages on iPhone devices, the company's announced. The two tech giants will do this by embracing RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging, which enables advanced features like the ability to chat over Wi-Fi.
"By furthering our robust partnership with Google, we will bring a richer messaging experience to our customers, letting them seamlessly chat with their friends and family across messaging platforms. This collaboration will help further the industry’s momentum toward advanced messaging and global RCS coverage," said Patrick Chomet, EVP and Head of Product & Services Innovation Team, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics.
It's a logical collaboration, considering that Google is behind Android and Samsung holds the largest share of the smartphone market. If executed correctly, this collaboration can result in a better text messaging standard on Android devices, one with features such as rich group chats, being able to see when others are typing, use read receipts, and sending high-resolution photos and videos across platforms.
As part of the collaboration, Google and Samsung have committed to ensuring that their respective messaging clients—Android Messages and Samsung Messages—work seamlessly with each company's RCS technology, including cloud and business messaging platforms.
Samsung is kicking things off by introducing RCS messaging to some of its existing phones, namely the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. Other phones will follow, presumably the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+, and Galaxy Note 9, and future phones will natively support RCS messaging.
