Google pleads with regulators to make Apple open up iMessage

Google, along with various telecommunications firms, is urging European authorities to mandate interoperability of Apple’s iMessage with other smartphones, according to the Financial Times. This could mean the end of Android users in Europe being teased for their green text bubbles when messaging iPhone users, should Google’s proposal be adopted.

According to the FT, Google and the other signatories want iMessage to be designated as a “core platform service” under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.

The DMA is a major piece of legislation that aims to give more choice to users by setting strict competition rules. Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, are among the six tech giants that were named as “gatekeepers” because they run important services.

WhatsApp and Meta’s Messenger have been designated as core platform services, meaning they are subject to stronger regulation.

And the European Union has already been investigating whether iMessage should be deemed a core platform service, since it announced the designations in September.

If iMessage becomes one too, Apple will have to make it interoperable with other phone operating systems like Google’s Android.

Currently, green bubbles on Apple’s service indicate that a text has been sent via SMS rather than iMessage. And several Gen Z Android users say they’ve been teased for not having an iPhone — identified by the lack of a blue message.

The FT reports that the companies’ letter to to the EU’s internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, said the “fundamental nature” of iMessage as “an important gateway between business users and their customers is without doubt justification for Apple’s designation as gatekeeper for its iMessage service.”

They added consumers would be better off as a result of the designation because “enriched messaging” is only available between Apple users, per the FT.

An Apple spokesperson pointed the FT to an earlier statement which said;

Consumers today have access to a wide variety of messaging apps, and often use many at once, which reflects how easy it is to switch between them, and we look forward to explaining to the commission why iMessage is outside the scope of the DMA.