Samsung Acquires Canadian Company NewNet To Bolster Messaging 

It’s been a busy week for Samsung. First, the company announced that its acquiring car tech veteran Harman in order to better compete with Apple and Google on the connected car front.

Now, according to a new report from CNet, Samsung has also revealed that it’s acquiring NewNet Communication Technologies, a messaging company that can help Samsung defeat iMessage envy once and for all.

NewNet provides Rich Communications Services technologies, often referred to simply as RCS, which provide next generation mobile phone standards, most notably enhanced text messaging that supports chat, emoticons, location sharing and file sharing, in a similar way to chat apps such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, but over the mobile phone network itself using the SMS capability versus using Internet connectivity.

According to a press release from Samsung, “consumers will benefit from an advanced messaging experience with features such as enhanced calling, group chat, and the ability to easily share and transfer large files including multimedia and high-resolution photos.”

Samsung says that this platform will work across any device, whether you have an RCS-enabled phone or an older handset that can only send standard SMS messages.

Apple’s iMessage has created a bit of a social stigma for non-iPhone users. If you’re using an iPhone, messages coming from non-iOS phones show up as green instead of blue, and users aren’t able to see when their friend is typing or engage in a FaceTime video call like one would with a fellow iOS user.

However, if Samsung can provide a texting solution that’s just as fast and robust as what Apple offers, that dreaded iMessage envy could someday be a thing of the past.