Google has accused fellow tech giant Apple of benefiting from “bullying” by using a deliberate strategy to make Android smartphones users appear like second second-class citizens on the iMessage service.
The Verge reports that Google is taking issue with Apple’s iMessage service, claiming that the company is taking part in a deliberate strategy to “bully” Android users. Apple’s iMessage includes iOS exclusive features like Memoji and is known for showing Android phone texts in green bubbles while iOS texts show up in blue bubbles.
This has reportedly turned iMessage text color into a status symbol amongst U.S. teens — iPhone users are seen as wealthy while Android users are seen as poor. Some claim that this produces peer pressure for younger people to purchase iPhones while making Android users appear to be low class.
A recent Wall Street Journal report highlighted this situation which resulted in a response from the Android team and Google’s head of Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer. The official Android Twitter account tweeted: “iMessage should not benefit from bullying. Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. Let’s fix this as one industry.”
Lockheimer said in a tweet: “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.”
According to internal emails from company executives that were made public during the recent Epic Games trial, Apple did consider developing an iMessage for Android users, but Apple executive Phil Schiller believes that such a move would “hurt us more than help us.”
Another Apple executive, Craig Federighi, stated: “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.”
Read more at the Verge here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com