(Source, worked in mobile / mobile-related industries for >15 years in the US, worked at Google in Android division for part of that time.)

IMHO: Apple invented and invested in creating a great product (iMessage / Messages) - far better than what was out there - and continued to invest in improving it. No one who calls themself a "hacker" and wants to "build something people love" should shame them for doing so.

For example, iMessages long had full-resolution media support, encryption for multi-party messaging, and with addressing not tied to a phone number, which many other messaging products did not.

As a user, I absolutely do not want a government forcing the vendor of the product that I have purchased to enshittify it by removing or breaking good features.

And, if that government does force some sort of limited "interoperability" that causes a downgraded experience (e.g., no encryption, reduced quality media), then the "originating" app should absolutely indicate those issues and concerns to its users. I'm sure that there are lots of governments that would love to break Messages' encryption without Apple being able to tell users about it. And there we are with the difference between Blue Bubbles and Green Bubbles.

If people want to use WhatsApp or SMS or WeChat or one of 15 different Google messaging products, they should do that. But don't f-up a product that works great for those who choose to use it.

No one suggested forcing Apple to remove features. Reducing media quality would solve no complaints. And your comment about encryption made no sense. Apple devices trust the keys sent by Apple. A government could order Apple to break iMessage encryption without telling users now. The Signal protocol is open and not vulnerable in this way.

Apple didn't invent a "new form of discrimination", they have a product that works, and is tied to their ecosystem, nothing else. It is not even an exclusive technology, there are a hundred other messaging apps out there, and at least a handful of them are more popular than iMessage.

> Having a phone that doesn't open iMessage is basically a guarantee in the US that you will be excluded and ridiculed if you're a teen, and tbh even as an adult, not having iMessage can result in being excluded in the workplace as well as socially.

I can't speak about teens, but I haven't met a single adult in the US, so arrogant and petty, that they would exclude you from their social circle just because you don't own an iPhone.

And if you actually have encountered this, perhaps it is time for you to look for new friends.

Literally nobody I know who has an iPhone truly cares what color the chat messages is... We do however notice the green message and jokingly go "oh an Android user eh?" and give a little shit for it, but nobody would ever actually ostracize someone from a group for being Android.

These people are delusional.

I have a group chat right now with my sister who is also iPhone and my mom who is Android, we all have zero issues in group chat.

Only thing that changed is the group chat goes from being iMessage blue bubbles to just all green chats due to the one Android user.

Everything else is the same. Well when my sister like reacts to our messages because she doesn't quite realize that it's not a group iMessage but just a group SMS then iMessage sends `<sister> liked "<message she liked>"` texts to the rest of us but shows the like reaction to her.

I don't think it's a new form of discrimination either, brand awareness and social position via brands is incredibly prevalent in teenagers and has been for a while.

An iphone costs 1 month of salary in Spain and Spain has the highest youth unemployment rate of the EU (and those who are employed most likely make peanuts). How are young people going to afford it? If an iphone cost 200€, how many people would even use android to begin with?

Now extrapolate that to the rest of the world.

Of minimum salary, although there is the iPhone SE, which is ~500 euro.

Regardless, it always baffles me how people skimps on stuff that they use continuously through the day, every day.

When someone would tell me how expensive an iPhone is, which would last five, six years, just to go and purchase Chinese off brand phone from AliExpress for a couple hundred, that would last a couple years tops, I have to laugh. It's like calling someone out for buying a slightly expensive Toyota, while driving a Chevrolet.

>When someone would tell me how expensive an iPhone is...

Also, of course if the average person in Spain had even the simplest economic skills we wouldn't be one of the poorest countries in the EU.

At least iMessage is somewhat compatible with Android. You can't message someone in WhatsApp from Telegram.

I did a quick spot check on eBay for "iphone se 2020 unlocked", and you can get one from $130 shipped.

Especially versus the cost (monetary or otherwise) of installing another chat app?

But even if it were relevant, what massive costs do you incur when you switch from your Google phone to an iPhone? Two hours set-up, if you are really slow? Anything else?

Also, if that is too much for you, you can keep your Google phone, I honestly couldn't care less what phone you use. I just wanted to point out that "you have to buy an iPhone 15 pro to get blue bubbles" is bullshit.

As to your point about non-monetary costs, I'd gladly spent $130 to avoid installing any meta app on my phone.

Can you explain the relation here? As far as I know iMessage is available also outside US. If iMessage was 100% the cause it would be the same outside US as well.

So I think that 'Blue Bubble Bullying' in US is because iPhone is more popular there - not other way around.