The green bubble/blue bubble thing harms Apple’s users too. Apple legal battle, where documentation showed that Apple was dividing the world purposefully and saw no incentive in bringing iMessage to Android.īut Google says that misses the point. And iMessage lock-in actually came up recently in the Epic v. When I switched to the iPhone recently, I was immediately congratulated for making the switch by three iPhone-using people-my son, my daughter, and a neighbor-because they immediately noticed the change in their Messages apps.įrom Apple’s standpoint, there’s little incentive to adopt a standard when its own in-house technology works exactly as it wants, labeling non-Apple users as inferior. Meanwhile, the unwashed masses on Android using inferior SMS are given green bubbles to highlight their inferiority.Īnd it’s real. And it really is that simple.įor those unfamiliar with the green bubble/blue bubble thing, Apple’s Messages app differentiates iMessage-based messages from a user’s contacts by coloring them with blue conversation bubbles. All Apple needs to do, Google argues, is make its in-house Messages apps compatible with not just iMessage, but with RCS as well. The solution and standard that Google refers to is the Rich Communication Services (RCS), a communications protocol that can replace SMS while providing the unique features of Apple iMessage to everyone. “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. “Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy,” Google senior vice president Hiroshi Lockheimer wrote in a follow-up tweet that links to a recent Wall Street Journal article about Apple’s iMessage lock-in strategy. “Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. “iMessage should not benefit from bullying,” the Android team tweeted a few days ago, kicking off Google’s public awareness campaign against Apple.

It’s about making Apple Messages work with open standards and interoperate fully with the rest of the world. To be clear, this isn’t about getting Apple Messages on Android. Google went public this week with its frustration over one of Apple’s strongest ecosystem lock-in strategies: the blue and green bubbles in its iMessage service.

Any way to use imessage on android