Do we really need a single standard? I and many others use multiple messaging services and it’s fine. Each has their pros and cons. I can also contact people in multiple ways if one service fails.
I hate using multiple messaging services. I hate the annoying point in time when conversations with someone move beyond the needs of SMS/MMS, and we have to do the annoying dance to figure out which messaging apps we have in common. And god forbid it's a new group chat, then we have to figure out which messaging app several people have in common.
With an open, single, federated messaging standard that's integrated into the stock messaging app of every Android and Google phone, all of that just goes away. If people really want to use another app because it gives them some useful benefit, they can still choose to do so. But I want the default, universal messaging standard to be something that lets me send photos and videos without quality loss to the point that videos are unwatchable.
I would't even mind not having a _single_ standard, as long as all the standards were _open_ standards.
If I could use an Android iMessage client when I have to talk to iPhone users, that would be fine. Or we could even see the rebirth of multiplatform messengers like Pidgin, Gajim and Trillian.
The issue is that right now there is no way to have a modern text conversation with iPhone users (high quality media, reactions etc.) if they don't want to leave iMessage. (Most of them don't.)
