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Comment by eYrKEC2 | Hacker News Reader

The blue background isn't lock-in -- it's branding and fashion. It's labeling the in-group and the out-group. The cool kids with their Nike shoes and the kids who got their shoes from Payless Shoe Store. The Abercrombie & Fitch wearing kids vs Costco or Walmart wearing kids.

The sooner it can be learned that a symbol on a shoe is ... kind of a silly status symbol, the better. Same with blue background or blue check mark.

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When iMessage was introduced it was at a time SMS and MMS incurred extra charges, or, at best, came out of a fixed monthly allowance.

Making the user aware of whether they were using SMS/MMS or iMessage was actually a technically important feature, not as a status symbol.

At the time most everyone was on verizon which gave free in network sms and mms regardless of your plan. Social pressure at least in my area was therefore huge to get on verizon in particular since it was more dominant. Then that stopped once everyone had unlimited texting from any carrier.

I fear that's a losing battle. Forming cliques seems to be basic human behavior. It's not so much about the status symbol itself, as it's about being able to "other" people for whatever reason du jour.

This seems especially true for children, who lack the maturity to judge social interaction less superficially. Not saying adults are immune to this sort of thing, of course.

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