That's why he pointed out that it is marketing.

Because people believe you need to have iMessage.

Source? I've never see an Apple advertisement that would lead me to believe I can't use WhatsApp or Signal or any other messaging application.

Anecdotal sources: Every group of peers that wouldn't have excluded me from the group chat if it didn't "turn green"

The green means that it's technically inferior than WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, etc. and/or you can end up with surprise international texting charges from your mobile network.

I don't have a problem with people discriminating against MMS, but everyone I know doesn't have a problem using any of the other decent alternatives that work on both Android and iOS.

I agree it's a good indicator, only given it isn't exclusive to a restricted platform (or expensive platform, therefore making it a status symbol). I think Signal does this right, 1. by supporting all major platforms, 2. by showing standard SMS as "dull grey" and allowing you to choose your own color for a contact (otherwise having a random color) when the conversation is Signal enhanced. On that note, I have hopes that Signal can become The One True Messenger after they iron out a few more quirks.

There’s a pretty common meme about people having green texts being “meh”. It’s weird.

Does this count as a “source” in this instance?

https://me.me/t/green-texts

Edit: found something more traditional https://www.vogue.com/article/breathless-couples-who-are-not...

pretty frustrating read though. Be warned.

Sounds like the green messages are doing people a favor by pointing out garbage people who discriminate against someone for not using iOS.

I'm just claiming that there is a valid use case for making it abundantly clear if a conversation is happening via MMS versus iMessage, so I didn't take it as a way for Apple to somehow "lock" people into iMessage...especially since plenty of other chat apps are a few taps away with no degradation in usability.