Android users don't have platform specific messaging apps as far as I know, so the fact that some people use iMessage as their normal is mostly inconsequential to Android users, but not the other way around since things appear differently based entirely on the platform. But I suppose I answered my own question, and something like this would enable iMessage to be more platform-independent, and thus an iOS user could hypothetically switch to Android without concern that they'll be ostracized from their messaging group or whatever.