📡 The Big Story
RCS just had its iPhone moment, and it's happening way faster than anyone expected. Infobip's latest numbers show RCS traffic exploded 70x in North America last year. That's not a typo. Seventy. Times.
Here's what makes this massive: North America has been the RCS holdout for years while the rest of the world slowly adopted it. But that 70x jump suggests we hit the tipping point where carriers, brands, and consumers all finally got on board at once. When you see growth rates that aggressive, it usually means the infrastructure bottlenecks got cleared and the floodgates opened.
The timing isn't coincidental either. With Apple and Google now testing cross-platform encrypted RCS, we're looking at the end of the green bubble wars. SMS held 62% of messaging traffic last year, but that's about to change fast. When iPhone users can finally send proper messages to Android without feeling like they're texting from 2005, game over.
🔥 What's Moving
Apple and Google Actually Playing Nice on RCS Encryption 🔥
This is the story nobody saw coming. Apple and Google are testing end-to-end encrypted RCS between iOS and Android, which is like watching Coke and Pepsi collaborate on a new recipe. Apple spent years dragging their feet on RCS, then suddenly they're beta testing cross-platform encryption? Tim Cook must have seen those Infobip numbers too. This changes everything for enterprise messaging because now you can actually guarantee rich, encrypted delivery regardless of what phone your customers use.
FCC Chairman Wants Your Call Center Back in America 👀
Chairman Carr is pushing requirements for certain businesses to use domestic call centers, which sounds like good politics but questionable telecom policy. Look, I get the sentiment, but forcing call center onshoring while we're trying to automate everything with AI feels like mandating more horse stables during the Model T era. The real question is which "certain businesses" they're targeting. If it's telecom and financial services, that's one thing. If it's every company using contact centers, that's a massive operational headache.
Healthcare TCPA Updates Go Live Next Month 😴
Updated TCPA rules for healthcare messaging take effect April 11, and honestly, most healthcare organizations are probably scrambling right now. The consent revocation changes aren't earth-shattering, but healthcare moves slower than continental drift when it comes to compliance updates. Expect a lot of "we're temporarily suspending automated communications" notices next month while legal teams catch up.
Google Messages Gets RCS Mentions and Trash 👀
Google finally launched RCS Mentions and a Trash folder in Messages, which feels like features that should have existed three years ago. The @ mentions for RCS group chats are actually useful, especially with notifications even when chats are muted. But calling this a "launch" when it's been in beta forever? Classic Google. Still, these little UX improvements matter when you're trying to convince people that RCS isn't just "SMS with extra steps."
🏆 Winner of the Week: RCS, obviously. Those Infobip numbers don't lie, and cross-platform encryption testing means 2026 is the year it finally becomes the default.
📉 Loser of the Week: Anyone who bet big on proprietary messaging platforms instead of riding the RCS wave.
📊 By the Numbers
70x - RCS traffic growth in North America in 2025, according to Infobip. This isn't gradual adoption, this is a format war ending.
$146.08 billion - Projected premium messaging market size by 2035, up from $80.2 billion in 2025. A2P messaging keeps printing money while everyone argues about which channel is "best."
62% - SMS still accounts for nearly two-thirds of messaging traffic globally, proving that reliability trumps features until the features actually work reliably.
🔮 What We're Watching
The April 11 TCPA compliance deadline is going to be messier than anyone expects. Healthcare organizations are notoriously slow to update messaging practices, and three weeks isn't enough time for most of them to overhaul their consent management systems.
Also keeping an eye on how quickly that Apple-Google RCS encryption testing moves to production. If they fast-track this, we could see full cross-platform encrypted RCS before the holidays, which would completely reshape enterprise messaging strategies for 2027.
💡 The Hot Take
Here's what nobody's saying out loud: SMS is about to become the new fax machine. Not dead, but relegated to legacy systems and compliance requirements. Those Infobip numbers aren't just showing RCS growth, they're showing the beginning of the end of the SMS era.
Everyone's been treating RCS like "SMS plus features," but that 70x growth in North America suggests we've hit the moment when it becomes the default and SMS becomes the fallback. The Apple-Google encryption partnership isn't just about playing nice, it's about both companies realizing they need to own the post-SMS world before someone else does.
Mark this down: by 2028, asking someone to "send you a text" will sound as outdated as asking them to "send you a telegram." The infrastructure is finally there, the carriers are on board, and now the phones are too. SMS had a good 30-year run, but the future is rich, encrypted, and cross-platform. Time to start planning accordingly.
