You might not remember the news, but in October 2019, when Google began enforcing RCS on its messaging app outside of the US, the major US carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T) announced a company linked to RCS. Their own. The plans, dubbed the Carrier Messaging Initiative (CCMI), were to create their own RCS solution that doesn’t include Google and will also allow them to make extra money by integrating brands into your messaging experience. It looked horrible.
We haven’t talked about CCMI since our initial formulation because there wasn’t much to say. At one point, CCMI suggested creating an RCS messaging app for Android which would become a standard among carriers here, but I’m not sure they’ve made much progress at all. To be fair here, it has always appeared as the type of advertisement to be used as a bargaining chip to revolutionize Google’s messaging. I don’t think CCMI was a serious solution at all.
Anyway, it lasted until today and the CCMI has been resolved, according to Light reading. This makes sense since T-Mobile announced a major partnership with Google a few weeks ago that included using Google Messages on all future Android phones with RCS for the ride. How could CCMI work if T-Mobile opened its arms to Google? Well the answer is, it would be impossible.
When asked for comment, Verizon said that “the owners of the Cross Messaging Initiative have decided to end the joint venture effort” and that they “all remain committed to improving the clients’ messaging experience, particularly by increasing the availability of RCS”. T-Mobile added that it is “committed to providing the interoperability of the RCS remote control system and working with other vendors to achieve this,” which means they will likely help Google hand it over to Verizon and AT&T.
The end of CCMI is good news, my friends. The operators, just like they tried to build their own mobile payment system and gave it an unfortunate name, they allegedly made a bad product that was nothing more than another way for them to monetize your plan. Monthly service. We can hope Google doesn’t give them the same power. Once again, T-Mobile Stated Their partnership with Google “will make it easier for businesses to engage customers in new ways with messaging, doing business, support and communicating more easily” F * ck.
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