Google has released the RCS protocol for all US users and is now ready to bring it to Italy as well. What is it about
Google is ready to declare war on WhatsApp and iMessage with a new technology to send SMS 2.0 that allows you to attach images, videos and multimedia content. We’re talking about the RCS protocol (acronym for Rich Communication Services) on which the Mountain View company is investing a lot to get back its say in the world of instant messaging.
In the last decade it has tried to launch several applications, but always with little success. Hangouts has now become an app used mostly in the business world, while Duo and Allo have never really caught on. On the contrary, WhatsApp and iMessage have become a real reference point. We have already talked about the RCS protocol and its potential in the past: the news of these days concerns the gradual release for Android users in the United States. This is a very important step: Google is trying to force the hand and enable the use of SMS 2.0 within the Messages app, present in most Android smartphones.
U.S. users can enable the use of RCS protocol within the app and start exchanging free messages with their friends. Google’s goal is to replicate what Apple has done with iMessage, which is to create an instant messaging app for use within the Android ecosystem.
What is RCS and how does it work
Many call the Rich Communication Services protocol SMS 2.0. Why is this nickname used? Because it allows you to enrich SMS with multimedia content such as photos, videos, documents, all in high quality. But the functionality doesn’t end there. There are read ticks and it signals when a user is typing. If you’re thinking, “But it’s identical to WhatsApp,” you have a point. Google’s objective is to slowly steal a slice of users from Facebook’s messaging application, focusing on the fact that SMS 2.0 is integrated into the Google ecosystem. Will this new idea of Big G’s be successful? It’s hard to say now, but the mountain to climb is really very high.
The problems that RCS protocol has to face
The new standard on which Google is pushing a lot has to face several problems. The first one concerns security: for the moment it doesn’t support end-to-end encryption, the technology present on all major messaging apps that allows to encrypt the messages sent. But Google has promised that it will arrive in the coming months.
The other big problem concerns support. For the moment only Google has decided to actively support SMS 2.0. Apple is not interested: it doesn’t benefit from it, already having iMessage, an app that works and is loved by users. The Mountain View company finds itself, therefore, betting on a new standard opposed by the big hi-tech companies and on which it will have to invest on its own. The hope is to transform the Messages app, used until now only to receive and send SMS, into something similar to iMessage.
When it arrives in Italy
After France, Great Britain and the United States, Google is now ready to enable support for the RCS protocol in other countries. There is not yet a certain date, but it could arrive in Italy by the end of next year.