Google bids farewell to SMS as it says Apple is still “stuck in the 90s”

Ever since the popularity of mobiles, SMS or text messaging — or iMessaging if you live in a blue bubble — has been wildly popular. Instant messaging apps came in and relegated the good ol’ SMS to the world of OTPs and other utility messages. Google has now officially said farewell to to SMS as we knew it. In a blog post, Neena Budhiraja, group product manager, Messages by Google, said that “after 30 years of SMS texting, it’s truly time”. Time for? RCS or Rich Communication Services — a new messaging Google has adopted and says almost everyone has. Except one: Apple.

In fact, in the blog post, Budhiraja makes no bones about calling out Apple on not adopting RCS. “Most of the mobile world is using RCS, but there is one company that’s dragging its heels,” she wrote. No special prizes for guessing which is that one company as Google has been calling out Apple in public for the last 12 months or more on this.