Google could score a major win out of the Department of Justice’s sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple: getting rid of those janky green messages from Android users.US Attorney General Merrick Garland explained in a news conference Thursday that when an iPhone user messages a non-iPhone user, not only do the non-iPhone user’s texts show up as green bubbles in Apple Messages, but also their videos become pixellated and grainy, their messages are not encrypted, and they cannot edit messages or see typing bubbles.”As a result, iPhone users perceive rival smartphones as being lower quality because the experience of messaging friends and family who do not own iPhones is worse, even though Apple is the one responsible for breaking cross-platform messaging,” Garland said in the news conference. “And it does so intentionally.”
Google previously accused Apple of exploiting “peer pressure and bullying” for profit by singling out Android users with the green bubbles. And last year, when developers launched an app that allowed Android users to send blue bubble messages to iPhone users, Apple shut it down within a week.Google asked European regulators in November to require Apple to make its messaging app compatible with third-party devices. And there’s even a landing page set up by Android urging customers to tell Apple to get rid of the dreaded bubbles.The DOJ’s lawsuit accuses Apple of building a monopolistic ecosystem with anti-competitive practices that stifle users’ ability to cross between platforms.The lawsuit alleges Apple intentionally makes devices that run on competing operating systems like Android look bad. And how messages are sent is one example, the lawsuit argues. “Apple makes third-party messaging apps on the iPhone worse generally and relative to Apple Messages, Apple’s own messaging app, by prohibiting third-party apps from sending or receiving carrier-based messages,” the lawsuit argues. “By doing so, Apple is knowingly and deliberately degrading quality, privacy, and security for its users and others who do not have iPhones.”The DOJ’s lawsuit wants Apple to stop its alleged anti-competitive practices — meaning the green bubbles could be gone for good if the feds win in court.That’d be a boon for Android users — and Google — by removing a stigma that the DOJ says keeps iPhone customers locked in to Apple’s ecosystem.
