Last year, Apple launched a new Move to iOS app for Android that helps folks transfer their contacts, photos, messages, bookmarks, and more from an Android phone to an iPhone. A recent report claimed that Apple is now working on an app that’ll help iOS users move to Android after being pressured by European telecoms, but Apple says that that’s not the case.
Speaking to BuzzFeed News, Apple says that there is “no truth” to the rumor that it’s making an iOS-to-Android switcher app. “We are entirely focused on switching users from Android to iPhone, and that is going great,” said Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller.
The original report claimed that European telecoms operators are concerned that most customers don’t want to switch from iPhone because of how much of a hassle it is to get their content moved to an Android device. These major carriers were allegedly pressuring Apple to build an iOS-to-Android switcher app, and the report claimed that Apple had bowed to that pressure.
Anyone that’s following mobile for a length of time would probably tell you that Apple isn’t a company that gets pressured into doing things that it doesn’t want to do. The opposite is actually true, with Apple typically getting its way with major carriers. For example, no iPhone has ever had carrier branding, but we often see devices from major manufacturers like Samsung come to market with carrier tattoos. Apple is also in total control of iOS updates, while carrier-branded Android phones often get updates later than their unlocked counterparts because carriers require their own update testing.
Because of all of that, a rumor claiming that Apple is bending to pressure from European carriers sounds kind of strange. Now Apple has thrown cold water on the rumor, meaning that folks switching from iOS to Android will have to find another way to move their content over.
