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It’s finally happened. My wife has been bullied by an iPhone owner. One of Lex’s best friend’s Mom attacked her over text messages. Our community will be torn apart.

DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER! MASS HYSTERIA!

Naw. It wasn’t that dramatic. Marie and I are having a nice little chuckle. We’re still going to let Lex play with their son. It’s all good.

It’s an interesting situation, and a complicated social dynamic. It showcases perfectly how Apple marketing “encourages” iPhone owners to act like missionaries.

Marie and “N” were having a chat about upcoming play date plans when out of the blue, N asked Marie if she had an iPhone or an Android.

Marie confirmed Android, and then N sent a “thumbs down” reaction emoji. N complained that when Marie reacts to her messages, she gets duplicates of the message now. N is frustrated.

“MY texting experience is poorer, because of the phone YOU use!”

iPhones are the bestest, and the ecosystem-est, and iMessage, and it just works.

It doesn’t “just work” anymore…

It doesn’t “just work” because Apple won’t use broad standards in their products.

Apple isn’t securing those message sent over SMS. Apple can’t even fix iMessage to turn the duplicate text into an emoji reaction.

Google was able to fix this in Messages, and there’s a bit of glee knowing that Android users see fewer of those duplicate reaction texts now.

iPhone owners, who are used to iMessage being the gold standard of texting apps, are getting a taste of what every Android user has had to deal with for years.

They don’t like it.

Apple is still trying to position this as an Android deficiency, but like so many other silly cross-communication problems, the bulk of the issues come from Apple refusing to adopt standards.

• USB/MTP file transfers on Mac? Broken by Apple.
• Bluetooth file transfers to the iPhone? Broken by Apple.
• Rich communication and secure texting? Broken by Apple.

Apple USED to be the driving force in certifying new standards. Here’s Steve Jobs explaining why standards are important (skip to 21:04).

Now their customers increasingly get to pay more for a poorer experience. Apple wants it that way.

We know Apple won’t make iMessage for Android.

iMessage was specifically built to be a pain point, preventing parents from buying less expensive phones for their kids. From court filings during the Epic vs Apple Lawsuit, we learned that iMessage was DESIGNED to be a pain point and lock in for families.

a. As early as 2013, Apple decided not to develop a version of iMessage for the Android OS. (Cue Dep. 92:22-93:1.)

b. Mr. Cue testified that Apple “could have made a version on Android that worked with iOS” such that there would “have been cross-compatibility with the iOS platform so that users of both platforms would have been able to exchange messages with one another seamlessly”. (Cue Dep. 92:5-9; 92:11-16.)

c. However, Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering and the executive in charge of iOS, feared that “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones”. (PX407, at ‘122.)

d. Phil Schiller, an Apple executive in charge of the App Store, agreed that Apple should not offer iMessage on Android devices. (Cue Dep. 92:18-93:1.)

e. In 2016, when a former Apple employee commented that “the #1 most difficult [reason] to leave the Apple universe app is iMessage . . . iMessage amounts to serious lock-in” to the Apple ecosystem, Mr. Schiller commented that “moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us, this email illustrates why”. (PX416, at ‘610; Cue Dep. 114:14-115:2.)

iMessage Could Be Better…

Apple COULD switch iMessage over to use RCS as a fallback where available though. RCS would be a better (and more secure) experience for APPLE CUSTOMERS, and Apple could then insert their interests into the future of the standard.

Instead, Apple executives continue to make this a pain point for THEIR OWN CUSTOMERS because they make more money from the “team think” psychology.

Apple markets “it just works”, so when something DOESN’T “just works”, they can point the blame at their competitors.

Apple profits immensely off their customers “bullying” Android users.

I guarantee you that my Wife has NEVER complained to her friends about getting duplicated texts because emoji reactions from iMessage were incompatible with Android texting apps.

N has no issues complaining to my Wife, when it’s really HER iPhone not working “properly”.

It’s an obnoxious aspect of this whole consumer market.

When I see headlines about kids OVERWHELMINGLY adopting Apple products, I genuinely don’t believe it has anything to do with liking the products. Instead, I think it’s a social conditioning, where kids don’t want to be left out of peer groups.

Increasingly, I also believe this is learned behavior from their parents. Parents are judging other parents in group threads, and commenting on the phones they use. They see no issues with this behavior. The younger APPLES won’t fall far from the brand-loyal trees…

My family just got a taste of that from one of my Daughter’s friend’s family. It won’t be long before we’ll have to chat about what gadgets will empower Lex to communicate with her friends directly.

It really REALLY sucks that the color of her text messages might be a critical deciding factor in what phone she’ll want to use…