“Merry Christmas.”

That was the message Richard Jarvis received via mobile phone on December 3, 1992 from Neil Papworth, then a young test engineer for Vodafone. It was the first text message ever sent, and it marked the beginning of SMS.

Fast forward 28 years and both our screens — and appliances — are talking to us. Yet still, users must contend with a fragmented messaging space and experience. Thanks to Google’s recent push for it, Rich Communications Services in messaging has once again become a considerable dark horse in the messaging space to change that.

Moreover, this could prove to be a helpful place to integrate chatbots more democratically. Here’s the low-down on RCS Messaging and how it stands to serve chatbot developers in the near future.

What is RCS Messaging?

Whereas MMS is texting in technicolor, RCS is a true texting upgrade. It’s been touted as texting 2.0 and stands to succeed SMS in the mobile texting space as a dominant protocol in mobile messaging.

Akin to messaging spaces we’ve come to know, like Facebook, iMessage or WhatsApp, RCS offers comparable features like read information and rich video and images.

Currently, RCS enables rich features such as:

Branding with copy, logo, color and graphics

Video calling

Text to and from your computer

Rich media with images, video and GIFs in any color

GIF search

Link preview

One tap password copying

Smart reply buttons

Secure end-to-end payment within messaging

Verified sender

Suggested replies and actions such as customized reply buttons and URL, map, calendar and contact actions

QR codes-for tracking, tickets and loyalty programs

Group chat

Location sharing

Read receipts and Brand DLRs

Most importantly, chatbot developers can integrate conversational AI into the RCS messaging space, which is currently Android Messages.

Most importantly, chatbot developers can integrate conversational AI into RCS.

That’s because as of 2017, Universal Profile 2.0 focused on developers. It includes plug-in integration, APIs, enhanced authentication and security a well as commerce application access points.

The Low-Down on RCS

Source: @smgdraws

While all else in tech has seemingly advanced at warp speed, SMS has lagged, almost unchanged, since it’s inception. RCS was an answer to that. It was developed just over a decade ago, and it has once again gained momentum after Google procured Jibe and committed to spearheading it on all Android phones as the default messaging app.

Right now, of course, you can send an SMS text message from any phone, backed by any carrier, to anyone. But unless you are either using the same device or a third-party web-client messaging app (like Messenger or WhatsApp), you’re limited to only a small number of features and actions.

It’s pretty outlandish, really. We enjoy all of these rich features in so many messaging spaces, yet we’re sold short with an SMS universal messaging experience…Boo.

Google’s stewardship for a needed update in this space is promising given these factors:

150+ carriers

Buy-in from top sellers, including Samsung, Lenovo, LG, Alcatel and others

3.5 billion user base potential

Support on both Android and Microsoft OS

RCS defaults back to SMS for non-compatible phones

How Adoption of RCS May Drive Chatbot Development

Keep in mind, Apple, Facebook and WhatsApp do have predominant holds in the messaging market, and that this is solely Android’s journey right now. Though, with 49 carriers onboard (as of this writing) and the biggest share of mobile users, Android Messages could be the tipping point space for greater chatbot adoption.

The level of accessibility may mean businesses and brands abandon current spaces for the reach RCS stands to provide: That bodes well for chatbot development.

At nativeMsg, the idea has been to open the door for clients to this additional space, which not only provides a modern messaging experience, but can also include intelligent chatbots.

Intelligent Messaging with RCS?

It brings the discussion back to native chatbots and the benefits that come with it. In this case, with RCS, it’s a promising channel for customization parlayed by the reach of a supportive user interface.

Yes, this is predominantly on mobile, but what’s fascinating is the ability to embed this conversation directly onsite, too. Users would see a messaging icon or graphic. But what’s important is the reach and rich features.

Users won’t need to sign up for Messenger or WhatsApp, they can use their default messaging app on their Android phone to reach your site. As of 2017, Android had 85% of the market share compared to iOS’s 15%, a pretty significant reach

Though end-to-end encryption is not available for message transmission, purchases within the space are.

Likewise, consider the new and emerging market applications- Android is an open source system and can be included by any manufacturer. This extends to global chatbot development use-cases.

Lest one foreseeable hurdle intrude, that is, navigating the disparate landscape of OS versions and updates (currently, many users in emerging markets continue to use older versions), writing for older versions — for now — may be a solution to gaining that reach.

Sure, WhatsApp dominates in Africa and WeChat in Asia and China. Perhaps because there hasn’t been a sweeping alternate in mobile messaging like RCS

But, brands such as Samsung, Nokia and LG, which run on Android, are popular in Africa and worldwide, where Samsung has topped the list for several years as one of the most admired brands.

The key, really, is the foundry of features that includes customizable chatbot integration of intelligent chatbots for healthcare, education, disaster awareness alerts and intelligent first response suggestions and services to 2.1 billion mobile users world wide.

Development on RCS may be just the route to worldwide adoption and incredible service applications.

Where do you see intelligent messaging headed? Do you think RCS might be a global tipping point for user adoption?