Why Can’t Zach Phillips Use His Phone Number on Messages on Mac?

Another one from the “you can’t please everyone” file. Zach Phillips:

It would only take one feature to make Messages on iPad and Messages.app useful. Allow me to use my phone number as my iMessages account.

I’m sure there are others who feel like Phillips does, but that would drive me nuts. When you send an iMessage to my phone number, you know it’s going to my phone and nowhere else. You, the sender, know that it’s going to my phone, and so you know not to badger me with half a dozen messages one after another like you might do if you thought it were going to the IM-style Messages app on my Mac.

iMessages, as an enhancement to SMS, should never use email addresses.

Apple could, I think, grant Phillips his wish and allow the use of your phone number as an Apple ID. But they have to let you use your (email address) Apple ID for iMessage, because they want to allow iMessage for all iCloud users, not just iPhone owners.

★ Friday, 13 April 2012