I often write about how OTTs can suffer from quality of service issues that operator-provided, standards-based services do not. I ran across an article last week that illustrates this point quite well. Path, a messaging app similar to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, recently sent out an SMS to everyone in a group of users' phonebooks—from ex-boyfriends to business associates—indicating that the sender had photos available for them on Path. “Not the kind of thing you would want sent to your buddy's wife on a Friday night,” the article aptly notes.

As is typical at the beginning of the year, wireless industry experts have been busy making predictions for 2013. It's no surprise that RCS is expected to see continued adoption this year, after U.S.–based MetroPCS and operators throughout Europe jumped on board in 2012.