The ultimate SMS killer: Google attacks Facebook and Apple with "Chat"

Google attacks Facebook and Apple with "Chat"

 

Facebook has Facebook Messenger. There are WhatsApp and Signal and all Apple users also have iMessage. But today, Google is counterattacking with Chat. With the help of mobile operators, the rest of the apps should take up less space. The fact that the operators work with the application marks a fundamental difference with the competition.
 
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Can Google replace the SMS? Even today, this system remains very popular: the exchange of messages via a mobile network. For the new generation, there is now a whole series of "messaging services": iMessage Apple, but also Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. But these are over-the-top (OTT) services: they override operators to send messages via the data service of mobile networks.

Google Chat is more ambitious: it is not an OTT, but he wants, with the help of operators, to offer a new generation of SMS. The system is called Rich Communication Services (RCS) and has been in development since 2007. Several operators have already tried to set up such a service, but no one has succeeded in creating a standardized system.

Become the new SMS

And that's exactly what Google wants to do: set up a RCS system across different phone networks, different brands of smartphones and even operating systems. And, of course, Chat is also aiming for nothing less than becoming the new SMS. With this standard system, you will have all the functions of WhatsApp, without having to create an account. This system will become the norm for all those who have a smartphone.

The question is whether it will work. Because Google and operators are late enough to start with this type of service knowing that most people are already fully accustomed to and faithful to a chat service. Certainly for the operators, it is really important that they have a foot in the door as a service provider of chat, instead of a few who will provide a "stupid service" that requires to connect to a network .

No encryption

Google is also attacking Apple and its iMessage, the system that allows Apple users to send messages to each other. But Google wants an "open ecosystem" that allows it to work with as many partners as possible. While at Apple, it's the opposite: you need an iPhone or other Apple device to participate. Google hopes that the application will become the standard in the majority of phones that works with the Android system. Samsung is also in the game and he plans to include the system in his phones.

There is however a big disadvantage to the RCS technique: there is no encryption. The message is sent via the operators and not only on the Internet. So it is sent with all the traditional rules that apply to traditional operators: without data protection.