

Mountain Lion: How to get the most out of iMessage - joelesler
http://blog.joelesler.net/2012/07/mountain-lion-how-to-get-most-out-of.html

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ComputerGuru
The article is wrong, there's still a _huge_ part missing from the so-called
"unified" messaging and Apple needs to step up their game ASAP.

No matter how you configure the "caller ID" option, if a friend iMessages you
(i.e. they initiate the convo) to your cell phone number and not email (most
common, as if they were texting but it silently switched to iMessage), the
message will only be received on your phone.

Apple _needs_ to add an option to allow you to authenticate/verify your phone
number as a valid _receive_ address for the desktop ASAP.

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zwily
Coming with iOS 6.

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ComputerGuru
No. That's coming for the iPad, not for the desktop. There is no iOS6 for the
desktop (and it's not in Mountain Lion :)

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zwily
Here's what Scott Forstall said:

“We’re unifying your phone number and your Apple ID,” said iOS guru Scott
Forstall at WWDC today. “So if someone calls you on your phone number with a
FaceTime call, you can answer the call on your iPad or even your Mac. And
we’re doing the exact same thing with iMessage.”

I think you need iOS 6 to set it up, but clearly it will work on OS X
afterwards.

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ComputerGuru
Thanks for that. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

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dmix
This is surprisingly difficult to set up on both the iPhone and on OSX.

Apple seriously needs to put some UX talent working on this.

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jsz0
IIRC the initial setup process of an iOS device walks you through this step by
step. I don't remember doing any of these steps when I signed into Messages on
OSX. This article seems to be more for the people who skipped associating an
e-mail address with their iMessages settings the first time around?

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natrius
I don't understand the use case for a platform-specific messenger. When your
whole company uses Blackberries, BBM makes sense. Otherwise, why not use
something that everyone you know can use? Behind text messaging, Facebook Chat
has the largest user base in my social circles.

I've assumed that most iMessage use thus far has been as a transparent
transport for SMS over a data connection. Is this correct?

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joelesler
Apple is positioning it (IMO) as a replacement for text messaging on iOS. The
fact that it works across devices is the killer feature.

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richardburton
Thanks a lot for this tutorial. I am really amazed that Apple has not thought
this through properly. Really disappointing. Creating a vibrant set of iOS
messaging and sharing channels would really increase their barrier-to-entry.

