Verizon Investigating Any Device Messaging Service
by Sean Capelle
June 3, 2012
We already know that iMessage has been keeping AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson awake at night. But what’s to be done about it? Verizon appears to have come up with a solution they’d like to try.
The new plan is called “Any Device Messaging,” and it is meant to include all of the bells and whistles of iMessage (syncing across multiple devices, seeing when someone else is typing, and delivery receipts, to name a few).
But Big Red would like to up the ante by having this service work across iPhone or Android, Mac or PC. It’s all in an attempt to sway customers from iMessage (or other free messaging services) and sticking with the texting plan.
GFK, a digital research company contracted by Verizon, contacted me yesterday via email to complete a survey. Why me? Because I initially hadn’t bought a messaging plan.
I had a notion to skip buying a messaging plan at all through Verizon and solely using iMessage. Some management would be needed on my part, namely refraining from texting while on a 3G connection, but even slipping on that would only cost $0.20.
While I was pretty good about sticking to the arrangement, my friends and family were not. I soon realized the single flaw in my dastardly plan to save $10 a month. Even receiving messages while on 3G would cost me.
In the end, I changed my mind and added the lowest messaging plan possible. I’d rather just pay $10 and be done with it than worry about when I can or can’t receive texts.
Whether Any Device Messaging is the silver bullet Verizon needs to kill iMessage remains to be seen (not really), but at least Randall Stephenson knows he’s not alone in the wee hours of the night.
Do you think wireless companies should come up with their own solution, or just resign to the fact that iMessage isn’t going anywhere?
Sources: GFK online survey, The Mac Observer
