Apple confirms iMessage locks users into iOS, and putting it on Android would hurt Apple
I suppose it was clear all along that iMessage was one of the biggest factors locking iPhone users to the iOS ecosystem, but it's still quite shocking to see Apple executives talking so openly about it.
Court documents related to the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple give an insight into just how valuable Apple sees the fact that iMessage exists only on the iOS, iPadOS, and macOS platforms.
The documents show that in 2016, an unnamed Apple employee wrote in an email that "the #1 most difficult [reason] to leave the Apple universe app is iMessage… iMessage amounts to serious lock-in," to which Phil Schiller, an Apple executive in charge of the App Store, responded that "moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us, this email illustrates why."