I think you have your timeline wrong. Android phones were seen as "not cool" in the US before Blue Bubble was a thing. iPhones have been aspirational and cool since shortly after their launch.
(Source, worked in mobile / mobile-related industries for >15 years in the US, worked at Google in Android division for part of that time.)
IMHO: Apple invented and invested in creating a great product (iMessage / Messages) - far better than what was out there - and continued to invest in improving it. No one who calls themself a "hacker" and wants to "build something people love" should shame them for doing so.
You can't truly interoperate with products that don't support all the features in the "originating" product.
For example, iMessages long had full-resolution media support, encryption for multi-party messaging, and with addressing not tied to a phone number, which many other messaging products did not.
As a user, I absolutely do not want a government forcing the vendor of the product that I have purchased to enshittify it by removing or breaking good features.
And, if that government does force some sort of limited "interoperability" that causes a downgraded experience (e.g., no encryption, reduced quality media), then the "originating" app should absolutely indicate those issues and concerns to its users. I'm sure that there are lots of governments that would love to break Messages' encryption without Apple being able to tell users about it. And there we are with the difference between Blue Bubbles and Green Bubbles.
If people want to use WhatsApp or SMS or WeChat or one of 15 different Google messaging products, they should do that. But don't f-up a product that works great for those who choose to use it.
Nothing prevented Apple to release an iMessage Android app with all the features. They chose not to as a lock in strategy.
No one suggested forcing Apple to remove features. Reducing media quality would solve no complaints. And your comment about encryption made no sense. Apple devices trust the keys sent by Apple. A government could order Apple to break iMessage encryption without telling users now. The Signal protocol is open and not vulnerable in this way.
(Source, worked in mobile / mobile-related industries for >15 years in the US, worked at Google in Android division for part of that time.)
IMHO: Apple invented and invested in creating a great product (iMessage / Messages) - far better than what was out there - and continued to invest in improving it. No one who calls themself a "hacker" and wants to "build something people love" should shame them for doing so.