newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The iMessage feature on the new iOS 5 is Apple’s answer to text messaging. And a key ingredient to their answer: it will send any kind of message for free.

Srinivasan Keshav, a professor at the University of Waterloo, told the New York Times that carriers can already deliver text messages cheaply, but most charge about 20 cents a text. Keshav has estimated that it cost the carriers about a third of a penny to send texts, and considering their fees, “it’s about a 4,090 percent markup.”

The iMessage feature is built into the Messages app on your device. According to product-reviews.net, when you send a message to someone, if that person is using iOS 5, your message is free, and you can send all you want, as long as you have your 3G or WiFi connection.

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John Abell from Wired magazine, said Apple is privatizing texting, according to CBS News. "They're making it easier for you to communicate with other people who have the same devices and taking money out of the carrier’s hands. He said cell phone carriers could lose billions. "If you don't need a texting plan, why would you have one? The downside is that this will deal only with other iPhones."