This is an outrageous take. Is iMessage the only group messaging app? If Apple was gate keeping all group messaging, I could see your point.
If you can't use iMessage, you'll simply be excluded from group chats.
Speaking exclusively from the cross-platform perspective, things are better nowadays with the expectation of Instagram and Discord, but you'll still be excluded from group chats for not having iMessage.
I think this is a pretty big generational difference. I think most US citizens born after 2000 are well aware of the green bubble stigma as a simple fact of life.
A bunch of teens got together and decided that some things were social stigma aren’t.
I’m sure there’s some schools where you can’t be included unless you are wearing Abercrombie clothing, or have a MK purse. Is it time to step in there too?
What's the point of having the goons if you're not going to use them?
You think it's wrong for the state to enforce a rule that prevents a certain type of behavior. Where does that end? Unsanctioned violence? Environmental destruction? Surely you're not advocating for anarchy.
Ok, so you agree with reasonable limits on the power of these "goons." Do you then think Apple's behavior simply doesn't warrant this kind of enforcement? Why not just say that instead, and explain why?
Spewing random sarcastic libertarian screeds just makes the whole discussion worse.
No, they did not. There is no teenage illuminati pulling the strings. The green bubble phenomena appeared throughout teen social life as iPhones became widely adopted.
> I’m sure there’s some schools where you can’t be included unless you are wearing Abercrombie clothing, or have a MK purse.
These are imagined phenomena which don't have bearing on the real phenomenon in question.
> Is it time to step in there too?
No. If there comes a time where Abercrombie and control widely used social infrastructure, in a way that prohibits non-Abercrombie wearers from participating through technological means, resulting a widely-acknowledged negative social phenomenon, then that'll be time to step in there.
But the Abercrombie thing is imagined, and the iPhone thing is real and has been happening for a decade.
I'm sorry that was your experience, but it's not a widespread phenomenon like the green bubble phenomenon is.
Yes, life would be better if everyone mutually agreed to use things crossplatform all of the time. but they don't/haven't, so there is this friction.
At least in EU they seem to be active (USB iPhones anyone), albeit slower than I'd like.
Also, in democracies with a somewhat free market, you can simply choose not to buy phones that do not ship the port you prefer.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/28/1241443505/green-bubble-shami...