Sure, agreed it's useful as a backbone sort of system like phones.
Which will always be the biggest fundamental flaw with something like Signal or WhatsApp (the need for centralized servers, the requirement to install 3rd party software).
There may be a role for these telecom services to exist perpetually as a backup services, while everyone still uses apps as their primary communication method. But RCS seems to be trying to bring SMS to parity with messaging apps supporting emoticons and media-heavy content, the intention is the same "conversations with friends" use-case as the messaging apps.
There may even be an argument to keep SMS dumb and simple like phone lines. Especially if they aren't going to adopt encryption with the rest.
> But RCS seems to be trying to bring SMS to parity with messaging apps supporting emoticons and media-heavy content
I think it's more that RCS is attempting to bring SMS into the 21st century, if barely. Those aren't exactly amazing features, they're the lowest bar for entry you could meet for a messaging app in 2010. 2019 has a much higher bar, as everyone here is noting.
It's not just the features but them combined with a very cleanly designed messaging app ala WhatsApp. They aren't amazing or new on their own but they've become standard and essential in the 3rd party messaging apps.
There's a lot RCS is going to do to make SMS difficult to distinguish from WhatsApp for most people, especially these days as they've matured and everyone has finished copying the other guy.
To be clear, I was saying the RCS features aren't exactly amazing, and are 2010 level standard, not that WhatsApp's features aren't good.
If the base level RCS features make it hard for WhatsApp to stand out, and the base level RCS features are really fairly poor in comparison to what can be offered, that begs the question of what WhatsApp is bringing that's worth it's use. End-to-end encryption is the answer, but there's other apps that may do that better.
If the real big differentiator is end-to-end encryption, then I think the solution isn't to push people to not use RCS, which has inherent qualities that mean it will always have at least some market, but after it's here we immediately push for extensions to it that allow end-to-end encryption. If that's accomplished, that immediately sets the real floor for every messaging app, and if they aren't offering the same the two questions are why bother with it at all if the built in stuff is better, and why aren't they doing it if it's the market floor, what are they gaining from being able to see the messages?
SMS is the lowest common denominator of messaging. RCS will be the lowest common denominator of messaging. We should use this opportunity to cement that, and then keep the momentum up and use it to push for other essential features like encryption.
