Sadly, it seems multiple Apple execs were concerned that doing so would make it too easy for iPhone owners to leave the Apple ecosystem, with Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, having said, “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones”—a sentiment Epic’s brief says was also shared by Phil Schiller, who back then was in charge of overseeing Apple’s App Store.

The most depressing thing about these statements is that it removes any doubt that Apple could make an Android version of iMessage if it wanted to, but it hasn’t because Apple is more concerned about potentially making it easier for its customers to leave its ecosystem, which has resulted in a needlessly fragmented messaging ecosystem and a sense that Apple is using manufactured exclusivity to hold longtime iMessage users hostage.