That's a strange argument... It sounds like you're making the claim that every single chat application should be mandatory legally required to have completely open APIs for any clone that wants to pop up and get access to their network.
What chat apps using a centralized server owned by a single company have open APIs that let anyone use them?
I don’t believe every chat application should be required to have completely open APIs. Key factors in my mind:
- iMessage isn’t a chat app. It’s the default experience for sending the equivalent of text messages from the Apple ecosystem. They’ve blended the experiences such that it’s not fair to compare it to a traditional chat app
- 3rd party chat apps are cross platform. The only reason Beeper exists is because there is no first party option to interact with iMessage chats outside of the ecosystem. This is not the case for actual “chat apps”, and the non-existence of APIs takes on lesser relevance
- On blending the two, what's the issue here? Automatically upgrading SMS messages to go over data connections instead of SMS systems seems like a pure upgrade?
- 3rd party chat apps are cross platform because they're funded by alternative methods, usually by selling your personal information, though sometimes also by sales of other products within the app (like on LINE). Apple funds its chat app through phone sales.
What chat apps using a centralized server owned by a single company have open APIs that let anyone use them?