Forrester has published a piece on RCS[1] called: "More Myth Than Magic -- For Now[2]." For those of you not following RCS, it's basically the carrier's upgrade to SMS, which is nearly 30 years old at this point.
There have been a couple of recent announcements that I wanted to address.
First, the US carriers formed what is called the CCMI or Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative. This article from telecompetitor[3] provides a good overview. So does this one from ZDNet[4]. I'm going to try to sound more like a realist than a cynic here, but this feels like what Google and the GSMA have been saying all along. Mostly it feels to me like Google may have stepped out of the driver seat, and the US carriers have stepped in. A bit of same same for me. I'll keep looking for more details.
Second, Google is making an RCS-enabled messaging app available to Android users. That rollout started in the US late in 2019[5]. There is a step involved for users to make it their default texting application. There is some friction, but users can get it working if they want to do so.
A few points here:
- If you are asking the question, "Do consumers in the US need a messaging app with advanced feature sets?" The answer is "yes." We primarily rely on messaging to text our friends. At times we'll text businesses, but not nearly as much. Customer service is the primary use cases. (I was really miffed about a botched pizza order/delivery from Yelp/GrubHub last Friday night and sent maybe … several hundred in one session.) We haven't traditionally relied as heavily as those outside the US. WeChat blossomed in China where