Since the rise of IM software such as WeChat, I believe many people have never sent text messages. The only function of text messages on mobile phones may be to receive verification codes.
SMS was born 27 years ago. It almost no longer plays a social function and seems to be "dead".
Google is planning to "resurrection" SMS. Starting this month, Google will enable the RCS Chat function in Android Message in the UK and France.
RCS Chat is believed by Google and a number of operators to replace SMS as the new text messaging standard. To put it in a simpler way, it is "Android's iMessage". Google's ultimate goal is to provide this service to all Android users.
Compared to iOS, 75% of the world’s smartphones currently run the Android system. If Google can really open up RCS Chat at the Android system level, it will be a huge market. Can
SMS really usher in a second spring?
Google and China Unicom are promoting it. What is RCS SMS?
The so-called RSC, the full name is Rich Communication Suite (Rich Communitcation Suite), is actually an upgraded version of traditional SMS, supporting a variety of instant messaging functions such as pictures, text, voice, video, group chat and file transfer. In fact, it is the same as ordinary IM software is not much different, and the channel is also based on the Internet.
But the biggest difference between RCS SMS and social software such as WeChat is that it can be directly integrated into the operating system without relying on apps, allowing users of different operators to chat for free. Google will launch it. This is the case with RCS Chat.
Due to the inability to reach an agreement with the four major US operators, this time Google bypassed the operators and launched RCS Chat directly to Android users, which looks more like iMessage.
▲RCS Chat chat interface
. But RCS Chat is not exactly the same, because RCS Chat does not have a central database. Google needs to push information to users through Android Message to ask them whether to activate this function. iMessage is enabled by default, but only in this way can Google bypass the operator. Launch this service directly.
In addition, because RCS Chat is still bound to a mobile phone number, it can only be used on mobile phones and cannot run on multiple devices such as iPhone, iPad and MacBook.
▲iMessage
RCS Chat is currently only available on mobile phones. It is trial run in the UK and France. It is unknown when it will be promoted to other regions and whether it will enter the Chinese market. However, in addition to Google, operators such as China Mobile have actually promoted RCS in China at the 2014 MWC (Mobile World Congress). World Conference), China Mobile released the "Next Generation Converged Communications White Paper", proposing to use RCS as the core component to build a next-generation converged communications network.
Last year, China Mobile and Meizu launched Flyme "Smart SMS" based on RCS. , and showed that MWC 2018 showed SMS text, SMS video, card SMS, SMS traffic red envelope and other functions. Now Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and other mobile phones have also successively supported RCS SMS.
In fact, as early as 2007, the Global Communications Industry Association GSMA The RCS standard has been defined. However, in the past ten years, applications such as iMessage and Whatsapp have gradually replaced text messages in foreign countries. In China, WeChat, which has a monthly activity of 1 billion, has been born, but RCS has no signs of becoming popular.
But on the other hand, it is not entirely unreasonable for Google to close the chat application Allo and put more resources on RCS, and operators such as China Mobile and China Unicom are also promoting it.
RCS Why is it considered the next trend in the communications industry?
Whether or not RCS replaces SMS text messaging, it's certain that even carriers consider traditional text messaging obsolete.
But it is already difficult to shake the saturated IM market. Google and operators deployed RCS. Perhaps they did not intend to compete with IM software such as iMessage and WeChat for users at the beginning. Connecting enterprise services is the more important purpose.
A fact that many people ignore is that although the personal text messaging market has been squeezed out by IM software, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that the national mobile text messaging business volume increased by 14% year-on-year in 2018, with explosive growth during the Spring Festival.
▲ Mobile SMS business volume and revenue growth from 2013 to 2018 Picture from: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
This is not because people are still using text messages to greet the New Year, but because industry text messages (sent by companies to individuals) are still growing rapidly. Industry SMS accounted for more than 80% of operators' $39.2 billion in SMS revenue last year.
According to GSMA data, the current total global market for industry SMS is US$62 billion, and it is expected that by 2021, the total global market for industry SMS based on RCS will reach US$90 billion.
RCS The upgrade and transformation of traditional text messages is largely used in enterprise services.
In 2017, GSMA introduced MaaP (Messaging as a Platform) in RCS. Users can complete a one-stop business experience such as search, shopping, ticket booking, and payment through the message window. Enterprises can push graphic information to users, just like the WeChat official account in text messages.
The case shown on the official website of Jibe, an RCS service provider owned by Google, is a promotional activity with Subway in RCS Business Messaging. The results show that the conversion rate is 140% higher than that of traditional SMS promotions.
And 10 domestic mobile phone manufacturers jointly launched Quick After application, by associating with RCS, SMS can be used as the entrance of enterprise services on the mobile terminal. RCS advocates "ready to use" and "no need to download the app". This lightweight solution is similar to the "use and go" WeChat mini program.
Apple also launched a similar feature on iMessage last year called Business Chat. Enterprises can interact with users through a service account-like form, and users can use Apple Pay to purchase goods and services.
▲ Picture from: CNET
Apple may not support RCS, but using SMS portals to develop B2C business has become a trend recognized by technology giants such as Apple and Google, as well as many operators.
▲ Operators, mobile phone manufacturers and operating system providers that support RCS
Currently, at least 55 operators in 34 countries around the world have tested or provided RCS services, including 11 smartphone manufacturers including Huawei, Samsung and Sony. Support RCS function.
RCS still has many problems to be solved if it wants to replace traditional text messages.
Although it is regarded as a new standard to replace SMS text messages, RCS has no fewer problems than traditional text messages. This is also an important reason why RCS has not been popularized.
Google's RCS Chat does not support end-to-end encryption. This may not be a big deal in China, but in Western countries where privacy issues are becoming more and more important, end-to-end encryption is gradually becoming the mainstream of IM software.
end-to-end encryption prevents chat messages from being read by third parties, including service providers. Apps such as iMessage, WhatsApp, and Line all have end-to-end encryption by default, and a recent Apple advertisement highlighted iMessage’s end-to-end encryption feature.
▲ Picture from: The Verge
It is also for this reason that it is even more impossible for Apple to support RCS Chat, because it will make iMessage encryption useless.
does not support end-to-end encryption and makes SMS verification codes more likely to be leaked. Aifaner has previously reported that after some netizens inexplicably received more than 100 verification code text messages, all the money from Alipay , Yu'ebao and associated bank cards were transferred away.
▲ Douban netizen "Diao Hanjiangxue" received a verification code SMS message overnight.
Criminals used a technology called "SMS sniffing" to steal SMS verification codes. They exploited the vulnerability of SMS transmission without encryption. Google's RCS Chat clearly doesn't offer a better solution yet.
In addition, if you really want to popularize RCS text messages to every Android user, you still cannot do without the support of operators.
Although Google bypassed the operators and directly launched RCS Chat this time, it was actually helpless because it requires users to actively activate it before it can be used. The problem is that operators cannot reach unified standards.
In fact, RCS can come in two forms, one is an app, and the other is integrated into the operating system. Although using the app form is not subject to the operator, this form obviously cannot compete with mature applications such as WeChat and iMessage.
If Google is to open up the Android system level, in addition to unifying the standards of terminal devices, different operators must also be interconnected, which is not an easy task.
And if Google wants to launch RCS Chat in China, it will be difficult to bypass operators. A paper from the China Unicom Network Technology Research Institute points out:
From the perspective of national security and information security, it is impossible to allow traditional operators’ short and multimedia messaging services to evolve into Third-party instant messaging services will pose a great security threat to my country's communications industry.
If several major operators are unwilling to join hands, it will be difficult for RCS to truly replace traditional SMS.
SMS was born 27 years ago. In addition to receiving verification codes, is it still possible to be widely used?
On December 3, 1992, Canadian engineer Neil Papworth used a computer to send the first text message in human history to his colleagues: merry christmas.
After the millennium, with the popularity of feature phones and the introduction of SMS packages such as M-Zone, SMS began to grow on a large scale. In 2012, the number of text messages sent in China was close to 900 billion, but by this time text messages had begun to decline.
With the advent of smart phones and mobile Internet, people gradually no longer send text messages. In 2011, Guangdong Unicom's 3G traffic revenue exceeded SMS revenue, and the same story is happening in other countries around the world.
IM software such as WeChat and Whatsapp are rising rapidly. In addition to sending messages for free, they also support emoticons, videos, links, voice and video calls. It is almost a no-brainer to abandon text messages. WeChat official data shows that the average daily number of users in 2018 45 billion messages were sent.
▲The 2013 TV series "Please Leave a Message If You Love Me" already used Whatsapp to chat
In this year's WeChat Open Class Pro, Zhang Xiaolong said that when he developed the WeChat public platform, he hoped to provide a better solution than SMS plan.
's main thinking at the time was that WeChat would replace text messages, so the market demand in the text message era was that many services would reach users through text messages. We replaced it and had to provide corresponding capabilities to cover this demand.
This is exactly what RCS plans to do now. Those who go round and round with text messages still follow the old path of IM software. This also means greater homogeneous competition. The only opportunity for RCS may be to directly become part of the operating system after operators interoperate with each other.
To a certain extent, IM software such as WeChat is the text message of the Internet era. Regardless of whether RCS can "resurrect" text messages, it will be a matter of time before SMS text messages are eliminated by the times.
question picture comes from: puttalamtoday.
