AirMessage – Android app to interface with iMessage on a Mac
Apple's iMessage lock-in and the effect it has on teens in the USA is disgusting. I think it's worse and deserves more attention than all of Apple's other atrocities combined; sadly, it won't get it, because it doesn't cause x rich people to lose money. Nobody loses money on iMessage except the parents (likely low-income) which are forced to buy an iPhone because their teens were left out of groups with friends and essentially excluded from socialization in school. This even comes down to bullying and exclusion over something as simple as a "green bubble" or a "blue bubble" just like bullying for having a more affordable brand of shoes. The effects are especially clear in rural places where standard SMS is far less reliable than Wi-Fi-based messaging. Nearly every peer I've asked has stated they know for a fact they would be plum left out of groups if they were to buy a phone without built-in iMessage. Props to Apple for developing the iMessage technology and making it accessible in the ways they already have, but very shameful and evil of them to pit iPhone users against non-iPhone users with something vital to humans like communication just so they can sell more iPhones. They've found a fantastically profitable way to abuse psychology in teens, as if it wasn't already bad enough that they're considered a designer brand. I'm honestly shocked that no one seems to care about this, and I haven't heard much protest other than from the many parents who were forced into buying an iPhone. Just buy an iPhone, problem solved. Just stay in debt to a major mobile carrier. Just keep upgrading. Just stay locked in. I would say the forced iMessage segregation alone is responsible for much of Apple's growth in the USA, and it's disturbing that it's allowed to continue without much protest from anyone.