This is completely false. When i'm out at a bar and I meet a cool girl, she gives me her number. I type it into my phone and begin sending her a text. Instantly my [Send] button shifts from green to blue to indicate that she is an iMessage user. It's seamless. It falls back on SMS automatically if iMessage fails. Otherwise, it just works.
Having multiple platforms for messaging is silly. Absolutely silly. If I have an iPhone and so does my sister/mom/random-stranger what am I guaranteed that we both have in common? One single messaging app. I don't want to ask a random stranger if they've used X Y Z free messaging app, that doesn't fly.
The only difference, aside from having one app do sms and internet text messaging, is that if I don't have iMessage I have to buy an entire phone or computer to get it, while if you don't have gtalk or similar all you need to do is install one app and register an account should you not already have one.
With iMessage, I can talk to maybe one or two people that I know. With gTalk, I can and talk to them all, even those on iPhones.
iMessage is not revolutionary. If anything, it's a step backwards. We've had BBM as a vendor locked message system for many years already.
I can't see it as a step backwards when it provides great functionality to hundreds of millions of people. I doubt iMessage would be anyone's sole IM platform, and in fact the OSX client supports AIM XMPP as well, so it's really more of an enhancement (where available) for iOS users. Apple isn't really trying to solve problems for people who don't buy their products. At some point in the future I could see AIM and XMPP being added to the iOS client to be used as a fall-back in the same way SMS is used now. So eventually there may be one client that is basically a proxy to various other services and just sort of figures it all out for you.
>Having multiple platforms for messaging is silly.
so what if shes on windows or android or blackberry or not using a smartphone. It works seamlessly as well if you both are using the same app to text. Theres nothing revolutionary about it.
Having multiple platforms for messaging is silly. Absolutely silly. If I have an iPhone and so does my sister/mom/random-stranger what am I guaranteed that we both have in common? One single messaging app. I don't want to ask a random stranger if they've used X Y Z free messaging app, that doesn't fly.