The 'green bubble' trick
The Genius Marketing Trick That's The Key To The IPhone's 'Prestige'
Apple uses consumer psychology to make it feel like the "cool" brand, which the DOJ says created a "social stigma" toward non-iPhone users.
·
The Lede
"It can be hard to keep up with what's 'cool' in the tech world. Half the time, by the time you've figured it out, it's already passé," says Business Insider's Emily Stewart. "On Apple's iPhones, instead of conversations appearing in the typical gray and blue, text messages from non-Apple phones register as gray and a sort of hot green." Stewart talks about how this form of supposed cyberdiscrimination has even gotten the attention of the federal government.
Key Details
- In its antitrust lawsuit against Apple alleging the tech giant has unfairly cornered the smartphone market, the DOJ explicitly calls out the green-bubble issue.
- The reason that Apple causes friction with products it doesn't make is clear: to make money. What drives consumers, however, is worth pausing on.
- "Consumers who seek approval of others or are motivated by social dominance engage in conspicuous consumption to showcase their elitism to others," said Joshua Clarkson, a consumer psychologist.