This week, Google accused Apple of ‘bullying’ and ‘peer pressure’ for displaying Android messages in green on the iPhone’s default messaging app, iMessage. This comes after a Wall Street Journal report that detailed that US teens prefer iMessage to other messaging services.
When using the messaging service, iPhone-to-iPhone messages occur over mobile data and are displayed in blue bubbles. When a pleb Android user sends an iPhone user a message, it’ll happen as an SMS and display in a green bubble on the iPhone.
“We’re not asking Apple to make iMessage available on Android. We’re asking Apple to support the industry standard for modern messaging (RCS) in iMessage, just as they support the older SMS/MMS standards,” Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s senior vice-president detailed in a tweet.
The Apple of my eye
The WSJ reports that US teens are feeling pressured to upgrade to iPhones in a bid not to fall victim to the extremely uncool green bubble.
But there’s a pertinent conversation to be had on the ageing SMS standard of messaging. WhatsApp and its competitors offer a richer messaging experience, complete with media transfers over the web. The same goes for iMessage.
What will it take to offer a universal messaging platform across all platforms using data only?
“Lockheimer explains that the more modern RCS protocol that replaces SMS supports features like typing indicators, read receipts, better groups, and secure one-on-one chats,” Android Authority reports.
It also allows users the ability to share location data, high-quality media files and the option to conduct video calls.
“By not incorporating RCS, Apple is holding back the industry and holding back the user experience for not only Android users but also their own customers,” Lockheimer details. According to the VP, Google is more than happy to work with Apple to put an end to this bullying and peer pressure and create an equal messaging space.