I don't know if this is the same thing, but it's worth mentioning that every cellular provider has got email addresses via which SMS and MMS messages can be sent to/received from a computer.
I had not encountered the email addresses to send texts before, I would assume that as far as the technology goes it is similar, but Apple is the carrier, not a telephone company
per. se.In AT&T's case the recipient of the text must be an AT&T customer number and I would assume the same would be true of Verizon. In Apple's case the only limit on the recipient phone number is the receiving device must be capable of receiving text messages.
