That was a clever move by Apple.

People hate the green bubbles. To see for yourself, just search Twitter for "green bubbles" - https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%22green%20bubbles%2...

https://medium.com/message/its-kind-of-cheesy-being-green-2c...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ugh-green-bubbles-apples-imessa...

the improvement to my love life has been huge.

...that depresses me on several levels.

I tried out Windows Phone for two weeks a few years back and my significant other was upset that I went green.

I do wonder what the impact of this is. I can't think of any good way you could study it other than surveying people. Does this have a discernible market effect under demographic most vulnerable to social pressure?

People just like to make it sound like it's a really big deal amongst young people. When in fact it's probably just one of dozens of reasons for which they phone they choose.

Treating young people like they are less savvy or reasoned about the decisions is always a mistake. Likewise you can't just treat hundreds of millions of people as thought they are one homogenous hivemind.

>Treating young people like they are less savvy or reasoned about the decisions is always a mistake.

I am not sure it is always a mistake. People have made billions of dollars by doing. Look at how sneakers are advertised and sold. On a more sinister note, take a look at the whole Joe Camel cigarette advertising campaign.

Most people who are buying expensive sneakers are not young. And it's nothing to do with advertising and everything to do with fashion, hobby, exclusivity etc.

Likewise bringing up cigarette is ridiculous since it ignores the fact that they are highly addictive.

> Likewise bringing up cigarette is ridiculous since it ignores the fact that they are highly addictive.

To be addictive you need to start, and the cigarette companies knew that if you made it out of your teenage years without smoking, there was almost no chance you would start smoking. All of that marketing worked on teenagers specifically due to peer pressure and desire to fit in/be cool. And it's repeating itself with Juul. Virtually no 20+ year old non-smokers wake up one day and think "I want to start a vaping habit."

Some would argue that smartphones are addictive.

Right, not at all like phones :)

You don't think it's possible that teenagers place increased weight on what might normally be considered an insignificant difference? And that this has a non-zero market impact?

There's a reason people buy Supreme.

In another comment you refer to "exclusivity" with fashion. Why, then, is it such a ridiculous proposition that the exclusivity of having a blue text message bubble could have an impact as a status symbol, in it of itself?

There is absolutely a market impact