Apple has officially shot down the possibility of adopting RCS technology for its native Messages app. Instead, its CEO Tim Cook suggests users buy an iPhone if they have a problem with the 'green bubble' issue. Green bubbles appear when an Android user sends a message from the native Messages app (say Google Message) to the iPhone's native Messages app. If a message is shared between two iPhones with the native Messages app, the colour of the bubble changes to blue.

At Vox Media's Code conference, Cook said he's not seen many iPhone users complain about no RCS (Rich Communications Services) standard on iPhone's Messages app. When an attendee told the Apple CEO that he couldn't send videos or media files from his iPhone to his mother's Android phone with the native messaging app, Cook replied saying, "Buy your mom an iPhone". Of course, users can still download third-party apps like WhatsApp to share files and videos seamlessly.

Why is there a green bubble issue'?
Earlier in January, the Wall Street Journal published an article claiming that Apple treats texts from iPhones and Android phones differently, which creates a divide in society. The report suggested that the issue of green bubble vs blue bubble impacts some teens in the US, where a large chunk of the population uses iPhones.

Following that, Google released multiple campaigns to pursue Apple to adopt RCS technology that can seemingly fix this issue. Similarly, this technology will let users share and receive multimedia files from an Android phone to an iPhone or vice versa with native messaging apps. It will also save the hassle of downloading WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram. Hiroshi Lockheimer, who oversees Google's operating systems as Senior Vice President of Platforms and Ecosystems, even criticised Apple for not using available tech that can technically make iMessage available to everyone. He said that Apple bullies its way through to "sell products."

Cook has also indicated the same that in order to enjoy a seamless messaging experience, users should buy expensive iPhones.
Source: BusinessToday
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