How the peer pressure to be a part of the blue bubble iMessage text groups keeps US teens locked into Apple's ecosystem

The iPhone maker cultivated iMessage as a must-have texting tool for teens. Android users trigger a just-a-little-less-cool green bubble: 'Ew, that's gross.'

Wall Street Journal 2022-01-09 Tim Higgins

Context & Ripple Effects

The blue-bubble dynamic builds on iMessage’s earlier dominance among US teens, where the service was already positioned as a possible challenge to standalone social messaging apps. The current coverage identifies group-text social pressure as the mechanism tying that messaging preference to phone choice.

That mechanism helps explain why later coverage framed Apple’s Gen Z smartphone strength as a problem Samsung and Android were struggling to counter: messaging status can make switching costs social rather than purely technical.

First-order effects

US teens using Android face a visible green-bubble distinction in iMessage groups, while Apple gains a retention advantage for iPhone users within those social circles.
Android handset makers confront a customer-acquisition hurdle among teens because choosing their devices can also mean exclusion from the dominant group-chat experience.

Second-order effects

Samsung and other Android vendors must compete against an Apple advantage embedded in existing social groups, not just on handset features or price.
iMessage becomes more strategically important to Apple’s ecosystem because each teen cohort that stays on iPhone reinforces the service’s relevance to the next group of buyers.

Third-order effects

If peer-driven messaging lock-in persists into adulthood, smartphone competition becomes harder to reset through device upgrades alone, favoring platforms with entrenched communications networks.
The pattern points to messaging interoperability and proprietary-platform access becoming central fault lines in competition over mobile ecosystems, as later disputes over unauthorized iMessage clients illustrate.

The trend: Mobile ecosystem lock-in is increasingly being reinforced by social-network effects in messaging, making a device platform choice a group-affiliation choice.

Discussion

@lockheimer Hiroshi Lockheimer on x
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. https://twitter.com/...
@android @android on x
iMessage should not benefit from bullying. Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. Let's fix this as one industry. 💚💙 https://twitter.com/...
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
iPhone has a 70% marketshare in the US for 18-24 year olds 😲😲😲 https://www.wsj.com/...
@charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x
Certainly nobody could ever accuse Google of locking anyone in to a single messaging system. https://twitter.com/...
@noahpinion Noah Smith on x
If you want to do Big Tech antitrust, I guess you could go after iMessage. https://twitter.com/...
@mims @mims on x
Why Apple's iMessage Is Winning: Teens Dread the Green Text Bubble https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@acitrano Anthony Citrano on x
“The iPhone maker cultivated iMessage as a must-have texting tool for teens. Android users trigger a just-a-little-less-cool green bubble: 'Ew, that's gross.'” https://www.wsj.com/...
@kjlabuz Kevin LaBuz on x
“Never date a green texter.” Good read from the @WSJ on Apple's iMessage blue bubbles as a status symbol and lock-in strategy. “I've had people with Androids apologize that they have Androids and don't have iMessage,” she said. https://www.wsj.com/... $AAPL $GOOG https://twitter.…
@lepp @lepp on x
Same argument about BBM in 2010 didn't hold up. Need more than one 🔒 to be effective. https://twitter.com/...
@jameswester James Wester on x
I'm sure this says something about me, but I actually saw a former coworker's bubble was blue the other day when he texted me. He had always been a green bubble guy. I thought “New IPhone.” I didn't necessarily judge, but I did notice. https://twitter.com/...
@brianstelter Brian Stelter on x
“Pressure to be a part of the blue text group is the product of decisions by Apple executives starting years ago that have, with little fanfare, built iMessage into one of the world's most widely used social networks...” https://www.wsj.com/...
@sizpatel Sahil Patel on x
A great follow-up to this piece would be on the 30-year-old contrarians who refuse to get iPhones because they don't wanna conform to social pressure. (Too many of them are my friends.) (And yes, they're all white dudes.) https://twitter.com/...
@dsilverman Dwight Silverman on x
This @wsj story is a good look at the blue-vs-green bubble mystique of iMessage. But it (and other stories) get one thing wrong. It implies Android text bubbles are green, but NO ... YOUR bubbles go green when you chat with an Android user. 1/2 https://www.wsj.com/...
@iupdate Sam Kohl on x
Green bubble 🤧 https://twitter.com/...
@harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x
The fact that iMessage is an Apple-only social network did not happen with “little fanfare.” I attended the keynote where its arrival was one of the major announcements. https://www.wsj.com/...
@michaelmiraflor Michaelmiraflor.Eth on x
Not surprising but so fascinating from both business and sociological POVs: - ecosystem lock-in - competitive moat - switching costs - generational preference - peer pressure, in/out groups A great read about unexpected product/culture (vs market) fit. https://www.wsj.com/...
@neilcybart Neil Cybart on x
Apple competitors always position “marketing” as the reason behind Apple's success. Competitors don't want to admit that consumers enjoy the byproducts of Apple's design philosophy - a philosophy that is very difficult to replicate outside of Apple. https://twitter.com/...
@mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x
This is funny because Apple has *made their product worse* in order to achieve differentiation https://twitter.com/...
@journeydan Daniel Bader on x
Just in case anyone questioned Apple's iPhone XR/iPhone SE strategy https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@bigmeaninternet Malcolm Harris on x
Finally some attention on this form of prejudice/discrimination https://www.wsj.com/...
@shortformernie Ernie Smith on x
In some ways I can't believe that this ostracism by text worked. In others it makes absolute sense. https://www.wsj.com/...
@maxwinebach Max Weinbach on x
Everyone seems to think this is a one sided solution for consumers, but it really isn't. I can't just start using a different app, my friends would need to as well. If I want to text a new person, they would need the app. It requires everyone to install and sign up for the app. h…
@milesabovetech @milesabovetech on x
Wow! I actually made it into the WSJ, it's an interesting so go check it out https://www.wsj.com/....
@ronamadeo Ron Amadeo on x
Since the launch of iMessage in 2011, Google has launched 13 different messaging apps. Maybe take the L on this one. You deserve it. https://arstechnica.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@jacknicas Jack Nicas on x
Every iPhone user knows how one Android friend can ruin a group text. This is a smart @timkhiggins story on Apple's strategy to make that happen — which has led to teens on Android feeling ostracized: https://www.wsj.com/...
@theryanford Ryan Ford on x
Apple learned something from Blackberry back in the day. https://twitter.com/...
@dankim Dan Kim on x
Helluva take coming from a Google exec. Remind me again what open standards and altruistic business model Google follows for all their primary money making businesses like search and ads? Anyway looking forward to the 398th new messaging app! https://twitter.com/...
@ronamadeo Ron Amadeo on x
Google currently runs eight different messaging services. Google Messages/RCS Google Chat/Hangouts Google Voice Google Photos Google Pay Google Maps Business Messages Google Stadia Google Assistant Messaging Google messaging is the worst and most fragmented it has ever been.
@risleyjm James on x
new year, new time to report out this story i guess. https://twitter.com/...
@jtseo9 Dr. Jin Seo on x
Joe Camel would side with Apple on this issue. Gotta keep the kids hooked. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@stevenbward Steve Ward on x
I've been learning a lot about unconscious bias, but this is a whole new level. “Never Date a Green Texter” is absurd. I work on a Macbook Pro & have an iPad Pro, buy you'll have to pull my Galaxy S21 Ultra (soon to be S22 Ultra) from my cold dead hands. https://www.wsj.com/... h…
@film_girl Christina Warren on x
Makes total sense. iMessage is a really strong social/class signal in the US (I'm def guilty as a blue bubble bougie bitch). Also, the green bubbles do fuck up the thread! https://twitter.com/...
@ranting_monkey Ranting Monkey on x
Apple pushed inferior products through exploiting young people's desire to be cool? I'm shocked. https://twitter.com/...
@thehairforceone @thehairforceone on x
I don't think Bullying means what you think it means 🙄 https://twitter.com/...
@ptiongson Tiongson on x
The cultivation of iMessage is consistent with Apple's broader strategy to tie its hardware, software and services together in a self-reinforcing world that encourages people to pay premium for relatively expensive gadgets and remain loyal. https://www.techmeme.com/...
@john_hudson John Hudson on x
Jocelyn Maher said her friends and younger sister have mocked her for exchanging texts with potential paramours using Android phones. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, his texts are green,’ and my sister literally went, 'Ew that's gross'” https://www.wsj.com/...
@scottew Scott Wessman on x
This makes me want to switch away from iOS on principle https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@parkerortolani Parker Ortolani on x
Having a better product is not bullying. https://twitter.com/...
@onelinders Peter Linder on x
40% of US consumers use iPhones, an number raising to 7️⃣0️⃣% for 18-24 year olds, with blue text messages playing a key role #Smartphones #Messaging https://www.wsj.com/...
@keithedwards Keith Edwards on x
And it works. I tried switching to android and my friends said they wouldn't have a group chat with me anymore because iMessage no longer worked. https://twitter.com/...
@jmwilt21 Jason W on x
As a 23 year old in the US you could have said iPhones had 90% marketshare and that wouldn't have surprised me. No matter where I am, I will almost definitely be the only one with an android phone lol. Apple has a tight grip in thr US and it will only grow as my generation ages. …
@chrismessina Messina.Eth on x
@neilcybart This could have been much more interesting had the WSJ chose to report on the shadow #AppleSocialNetwork that's built into iOS 15 and macOS Monterey that cuts directly at Facebook and may leverage their duopoly power. But they didn't.
@thegalox_ Anthony on x
What makes this funnier is that Google has tried to copy the things he is now criticizing from Apple. “Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products” you wanted to do the same with all the failed Google messaging apps and with nearby share https://twitter.com/...
@saranbyte Saran on x
I still don't understand why iMessage is so popular in the US - I've used it in the past, and it really has nothing special to offer compared to messaging apps like WhatsApp imo https://twitter.com/...
@philnickinson Phil on x
I used to have new Android phones before they were released. My pre-teen (at the time) daughter wanted nothing to do with them. https://twitter.com/...
@wgkantai Wallace Kantai on x
Incidentally, I think iMessage is perhaps the worst part of the Apple/ iOS experience. https://twitter.com/...
@parkerortolani Parker Ortolani on x
Not sure any other consumer product in recent history has had a stronger competitive advantage than the iPhone with iMessage https://twitter.com/...
@neilcybart Neil Cybart on x
WSJ editor: It's been a while since we had an Apple story. Ideas? WSJ reporter: How about iMessage popularity among teens? Editor: Boring. Any way to spice that up? Reporter: Apple leverages teen bullying & peer pressure to give itself an edge in messaging Editor: Bingo. Write it

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