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If you 'opt-out' then it does not fix the problem of spammers having easier access to imessage.
I'll say that again: If you personally, either a) opt out, or b) dont have a watch at all, it makes no difference to spammers. They are not sending spam using your watch.
People are concerned about the result of allowing anyone to send messages in general.
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The real argument to be made here is, as other people have pointed out, this isn't technically impossible; I mean, apple watch can do it right?
So there is a solution; but Apple isn't allowing other people to use it.
THAT is the issue here.
Pretending there is 'no issue' is flat out wrong. If that what you think, you're wrong and you haven't understood the problem.
The issue is why only Apple is, according to Apple, technically capable of implementing the controls required to do it in a secure manner.
That's a fair question to ask, and there really isn't a strong answer for it.
Certainly, making it easy for anyone to send messages would not be a solution. That would be stupid. That's why they haven't done that.
...but, you have to ask, is there really no certification process that would do the job? Really? None? Only Apple engineers are smart enough and diligent enough to do it without screwing it up? Hmmmmmmmmmm...
Imagine a world where they allow Pebble to go through certification process for it to get jailbroken half a year down the road opening the gateway to iMessage for all the spammers in the world. What then? Should Apple now play whac-a-moll with the spammers forever, or block the access to all Pebble watches creating another scandal? And what if this happens to next 10 different watch makers down the road?
They own Apple Watch and if it gets jailbroken its their mess to deal with, but if they open it to the world then they have zero control over it.
If they further block it by default but allow Pebble users to bypass the block with some very scary warning message then My God there wouldn't be a scandal at all. People who know and accept the risks can use the thing they paid money for as they please then.
Apple doesn't get to be a major player in the market without playing fair.
