At the upcoming Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) next Monday, we could see something strange: iMessage, Apple’s own WhatsApp-style app, running on an Android smartphone.
While I wouldn’t be too excited about the news until it actually happens, unnamed sources who spoke to MacDailyNews seem to believe so.
So far, iMessage has only been a preserve of iOS and it has grown in popularity among iPhone users over the years. Rival platforms like Android have had to make do with alternatives like WhatsApp and others that have sprung up in various parts of the world. As such, many users are locked to Apple’s platform since they cannot use iMessage outside it. By making iMessage available to Android devices, such a barrier would be gone which is great for everyone but Apple. On the other hand, opening up iMessage to a competing platform like Android will see it gain even more users. The problem? Apple doesn’t monetize iMessage so such growth in numbers won’t directly translate to more money in its coffers unless there’s something more that Apple will share with us come Monday if at all this is true.
If indeed iMessage does make it to Android, it will be in good company. Apple Music has been available on the platform since November last year.
