iMessage amounts to serious lock-in' to the Apple ecosystem, Mr. In 2016, when a former Apple employee commented that 'the #1 most difficult to leave the Apple universe app is iMessage. Phil Schiller, an Apple executive in charge of the App Store, agreed that Apple should not offer iMessage on Android devices. However, Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering and the executive in charge of iOS, feared that 'iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones'. Cue testified that Apple 'could have made a version on Android that worked with iOS' such that there would 'have been cross-compatibility with the iOS platform so that users of both platforms would have been able to exchange messages with one another seamlessly'.

As early as 2013, Apple decided not to develop a version of iMessage for the Android OS.

It's no secret that Apple sees iMessage as a big enough selling point to keep the service exclusive to Apple devices, however new court filings submitted by Epic Games in its ongoing lawsuit with the company reveal just how Apple executives have rationalized their decision not to develop a version of iMessage for Android.Īpple clearly recognizes the power that iMessage has to keep users loyal to its platforms, particularly in the U.S., and Epic is using emails as well as extracts from depositions with Apple executives Eddie Cue, Craig Federighi, and Phil Schiller to bolster its narrative that Apple seeks to lock customers into its ecosystem.įor example, the document cites an 2016 email in which an unnamed former Apple employee complained that iMessage 'amounts to serious lock-in,' which prompted Schiller to respond: 'Moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us, this email illustrates why.'Ī.

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