Not having the blue bubble in iMessage creates terror among teenagers, who are afraid of being marginalized from their social circle.
It cannot be denied that iPhones stand out among the best cell phones every year, but many people buy them for reasons that go beyond the device.
Having an iPhone is also a popular status symbol among teenagers, a market that Apple dominates in the United States .
A report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners indicates that iPhones took 74% of the market for young people between 18 and 24 years old in 2021. In 2015, it only reached 35%.
Apple’s messaging platform iMessage has features that scare younger users from migrating to Android , The Wall Street Journal reports .
The blue bubble of status
“Who is green?” Was what the teenager Adele Lowtiz read in a group with friends after experimenting with an Android cell phone .
iMessage displays messages from iPhone users with a blue bubble, while Android users receive a green bubble and fewer features.
Interviews conducted by the newspaper found that many adolescents and young adults are “afraid” of the green bubble.
Several reported that they were alienated from their social circle or teased after leaving the iPhone .
Google pronounces
Most likely not. The official Android account responded to the report on Twitter , claiming that iMessage should not benefit from bullying .
Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of Google, was more direct:
Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing. The standards exist today to fix this. https://t.co/MiQqMUOrgn
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) January 8, 2022
“Blocking Apple’s iMessage is a documented strategy. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is false for a company that emphasizes humanity and fairness at the core of its marketing. The standards to fix this exist ”.
There’s a solution?
Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple revealed many details Apple as internal company communications were revealed .
One of them was the frustrated development of iMessage for Android . But iMessage serves as a “lock” to keep Apple under its ecosystem, as recognized by Eddy Cue, a senior Apple executive in the Internet software and services division.
Another Apple figure , Craig Federighi, hinted that developing iMessage for Android would mean losing young users.
iMessage on Android would only serve to remove an obstacle for iPhone families by giving their children Android phones . “
Most likely, there is no quick fix unless Apple is forced to. In Cupertino things are going well on the financial side, remember that the company reached the value of 3 billion dollars very recently .
