Break into iMessage to free Android users from the oppression of… I don’t know.

This has all been weirdly performative.

Call Apple's bullshit and prove that there is technically no reason why iMessage can't work on Android. The only reason it doesn't work is because Apple doesn't want it to, not that it's technically impossible or has security concerns.

Considering the media coverage and that there are now bipartisan calls for an antitrust investigation I think they've succeeded very well.

> The only reason it doesn't work is because Apple doesn't want it to

How many people thought otherwise? If they thought about it at all? I feel like HN users vastly overestimate the amount of thought the average user puts into things like this.

I can assure you the vast majority thought that the problem was with Android phones.

Apple really pushes the snake-oil that locking out Beeper is because of security and not vendor lock-in & business interests. They wouldn't do so if nobody believed it.

Among non-technical lay people, the perception is Android can't interoperate with iPhones due to inferior technology. (For example, people call low resolution photos android photos. They don't realize photos sent over sms were downscaled by the protocol, they assume it was taken in that low resolution format to begin with)

Suddenly being able to text androids without issue made it clear to everyone it's a policy-limitation, not a technological limitation