Apple is reportedly in talks with Google to introduce Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging to Indian mobile phone users this year, The Economic Times has reported.

The partnership could expand Apple’s proprietary blue bubble messaging — currently exclusive to iPhone users — to Android devices as well. This move is expected to shake up India’s business communications landscape, which is dominated by traditional SMS, with WhatsApp rapidly gaining market share.

“With the current iOS 18.2 version, P2P (person-to-person) RCS is enabled in eight countries — the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, UK, Belgium, and China,” the report quoted Inderpal Mumick, CEO of Dotgo, a global RCS platform provider, as saying.

Apple and Google have collaborated so that the Apple iMessage client can work on Google’s backend servers, which are integrated with carrier networks in these countries, he said. In China, where Google is not present, carriers have opted for alternative server vendors.

In India, Apple is likely to follow a similar path by partnering with Google, which has already aligned with telecom operators Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, the report said.

While Apple, Google, and Jio declined to comment, Airtel has reportedly opted out of partnering with Google for RCS messaging, citing spam concerns, it said.

An Airtel executive, speaking anonymously, told ET, “Until Google allows Airtel to identify spam messages using its proprietary tool, RCS will not be onboarded… Since Google RCS is an OTT service, it bypasses the Airtel intelligent solution much as all OTT services do.”

The backend integration between telcos, Apple, and Google is unlikely to affect user experience. RCS messages will continue to function over mobile data or Wi-Fi, similar to traditional SMS. However, this collaboration could play a vital role in A2P (application-to-person) messaging, a channel widely used by businesses like banks and e-commerce firms for official communication.