Apple’s iMessage introduced free messaging between iPhone users a decade ago has discriminated against Google users and it has affected the mental health of Android users, a recent report from Wall Street Journal revealed.
Hiroshi Lockheimer, Senior VP at Google, then took it to Twitter to address Apple. He stated that using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is “unwise for a company that has humanity and justice as a core part of its marketing”. Android’s own account sounded like saying text messages should bring us closer together and there is a solution.
IMessage users on iPhone have other iMessage users’ chat bubbles in blue, while messages from Android users appear green, and this has been the case since they were able to use their native messaging app on Google OS back in 2016. According to WSJ, teens and college students “fear the exclusion that comes with a green text”.
Surveys among some users, such as a 24-year-old graduate student from upstate New York, revealed that people in her inner circle of friends responded with “uh, that’s ugly” when another user had green chat bubbles.
Although the solution to this problem is quite simple – just change the color or put the app in the Play Store – Apple executives think differently. Their attempt is to make the messaging platform the industry standard, but without making money on the app, it would “harm Apple more than it would help,” revealed emails associated with the epic lawsuit.
