It might sound a bit harsh but Google sure wants to kill WhatsApp someday. In case you find it impossible to believe, Google is already taking steps towards establishing its dominance in text messaging.
RCS messaging is Google's answer to WhatsApp
Google's 'Messages' app on Android currently allows users to share and receive text messages on the SMS protocol, which is offered by all telecom network operators. Although SMS has significantly become cheaper over the last few years, the momentum has rapidly shifted in favor of internet-based chatting apps and services like WhatsApp and Messenger.
So the question for Google should be simple: If the majority of consumers no longer want to chat over SMS, what's the point in limiting the capability of the 'Messages' app to SMS-based conversations?
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Enters RCS, which is short for 'Rich Communication Services.'
We have been hearing for a long time now that SMS will be replaced by RCS in the future. It seems like Google's long-awaited future of RCS messaging has finally arrived, starting with the US.
Similar to WhatsApp, RCS messaging allows users to chat over Wi-Fi or mobile data. Google's 'Messages' app allows users to send and receive texts, photos, videos and pretty much everything else that you do on WhatsApp.
"Chat features are already available for some of you in Messages, and today we’re starting to broadly roll them out in the U.S. If you already have Messages, you’ll also be prompted to enable chat features in the coming weeks," Sanaz Ahari, Product Management Director at Google, said in his blog post.
Numbers give Google a natural advantage over WhatsApp
Let's face it. The only major advantage Google currently has over WhatsApp is the number of Android users. As of May 2019, there were about 2.5 billion active Android devices and of course, that number must have increased exponentially since then. At the same time, global smartphone shipments continue to grow with Android taking 87 percent of the market share.
It takes no-brainer that these numbers are totally in favor of Google and if implemented successfully rather smartly, Google may be able to crack text messaging play in the near future.
So what's stopping Google right now?
As far as the competition is concerned, it will be fair to say that Google's social media and text messaging efforts so far are synonymous with nothing but failure, which puts additional pressure on Google's shoulder to tread this path carefully from here onwards.
It will be interesting to see when will Google launch RCS messaging in markets like India.
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