A weird phenomenon has been going on around the phones of iPhone users. Most iPhone users have started to notice that when they use iMessage to text their contacts who are not iPhone users, they are labeled with a green background to their text. This is in comparison to the blue bubble that iPhone users are used to and are aesthetically pleased by. There have been a considerable amount of iPhone users who took out their rage on the internet and on social media, expressing their confusion and annoyance with this feature. We will take a deep look into why those green bubbles are a major annoyance to a bulk of iPhone users out there. The usual factors we will look into are the aesthetics, the passive aggressiveness behind it and the exclusive nature of Apple.
Aesthetics
An article in Slick Kook revealed very important information about the outrage that might not be news for older iPhone users. Green was used in the iPhone’s text design before. It was a heavy green color and it was despised by consumers around the globe. With the many iOS updates, this has changed to the calming sea blue color we see today but not totally. The green color has stayed but for labeling purposes now or better yet, to stick out the non-iPhone user which is going to be another topic we will be getting into later. Nevertheless, the issue of aesthetics is massive apparently for iPhone users. Many of the comments on social media seemed to care a lot more about the aesthetic issues of such a feature, which is their right one hundred percent, than the more sinister or for a better word undermining overtone of such a feature. People hate the green color and they took their anger to the electronic streets.
Passive Aggressiveness And The “Exclusive Nature” of Apple
The major cell phone companies have had a long and not so bright history of the questionable competition. Whether it be in their ad campaigns or in small features such as the green text, the big cell phone companies are going neck to neck to dominate the market. The green label is nothing more than that. Many opinion pieces out there have mentioned this phenomenon and mentioned that this could be a marketing scheme to not only teach iPhone users this culture of exclusivity that Apple has been fostering for years on end, but also to teach them that other phone users and especially Android are separate and alien to them. All of this is subtly of course, but it does seem like a very malicious business plan. Yet, it does seem to work for some reason. All of these schemes that Apple pulls off seems to work because they do foster a subtle culture of Apple user exclusivity.
Wrapping it up
It is very hard to please a whole crowd and to get everyone on board with the decision of your company but Apple has been doing a decent job through its run. Nevertheless, there are features in which Apple fans and aficionados have expressed distaste for, such as the green bubble on their non-Apple contacts. There are many reasons why the users could be angry about such a feature or merely annoyed by it. These reasons could range from mere aesthetical issues to offensive undertones that these green bubbles imply.