Beeper App That Created Workaround for iMessage on Android Acquired by WordPress Owner Automattic

[MacRumors]

Automattic, the company behind popular web management system WordPress, has purchased Beeper and will absorb Beeper's 27 employees. Beeper made headlines back in December for Beeper Mini, an app that brought iMessage to Android devices.

Beeper Mini used reverse engineered iMessage protocols and encryption, taking advantage of Apple's own iMessage servers to let Android users send "blue bubble" texts to iPhone users without an Apple ID. The app supported all iMessage functionality, including read receipts, typing indictors, reactions, and end-to-end encryption.

Apple was not happy with Beeper Mini using its iMessage servers, and it blocked the Beeper Mini app. Beeper tried workarounds, but after suggesting Android users acquire a jailbroken iPhone to get the service to work, the company gave up on the idea.

After Apple blocked Beeper Mini from working, both the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice met with Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky. Beeper Mini was ultimately mentioned in the DoJ's antitrust filing against Apple, with the DoJ suggesting it was a "fix" for the broken Android to iPhone cross-platform messaging issue.

Automattic does not plan to revive Beeper Mini, but is instead taking on Beeper, a universal chat app available for Android, iOS, and desktop devices. Beeper is able to integrate with multiple chat networks with a universal inbox, though it does not currently work with iMessage.

In a post announcing the acquisition by Automattic, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky said that Beeper is "cautiously optimistic about the future" because the DoJ has "sued Apple for blocking Beeper Mini's access to iMessage."

Going forward, Migicovsky will serve as Automattic's Head of Messaging, and Beeper will operate as an independent team. With the acquisition, Beeper is no longer in beta and has officially launched.

Article Link: Beeper App That Created Workaround for iMessage on Android Acquired by WordPress Owner Automattic

 

[kevcube]

so they're trying to make a competitor in the fully saturated messaging space... good luck Eric. You've already found your exit once.

 

[Shirasaki]

Beeper mini aside, well, just like Netflix, one company tried to unite an industry but end up finding more companies popping up wanting to take a piece of the pie of their own. Today’s message apps are like cable TV and beeper is like Netflix back in the day.

Will this work? I don’t know and I can only let time to tell.

 

[antiprotest]

I don't need this because all my friends are on MacRumors and we just use PMs on here.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky said that Beeper is "cautiously optimistic about the future" because the DoJ has "sued Apple for blocking Beeper Mini's access to iMessage."

I don't care what this guy did previously, he is publicly lying to people who are too ignorant about technology to understand that he's lying, and too powerful to lie to like that (Congress, DOJ, etc.)

I have zero respect for this person. Why is he lying like this? He's clearly smart, he knows he's lying.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Beeper mini aside, well, just like Netflix, one company tried to unite an industry but end up finding more companies popping up wanting to take a piece of the pie of their own. Today’s message apps are like cable TV and beeper is like Netflix back in the day.

Will this work? I don’t know and I can only let time to tell.

Beeper is more like using stolen phone service that the person you got it from insists is his right to use and redistribute, despite the fact that the phone company owns and operates all the infrastructure.

 

[loopy123]

I am just shocked that Beeper has 27 employees. It seemed like a garage operation by a couple of guys.

 

[coffeemilktea]

instead taking on Beeper, a universal chat app available for Android, iOS, and desktop devices. Beeper is able to integrate with multiple chat networks with a universal inbox

A multi-platform messaging app that can connect to multiple different messaging networks at once, huh? Meanwhile, Pidgin and Trillian have been around for 20+ years, and last I heard, none of them were run by shady characters.

 

[zapmymac]

Now I am slightly worried that [Matt] will ruin Day One…why in the heck buy Beeper?

If they try anything again, Apple will probably sue them out of existence even with the world govs watching.

Fix and clean up Wordpress, every other malware outbreak seems to come from Wordpress (slightly joking)

 

[BC2009]

Beeper was not a competing messaging service. It was a messaging client using somebody else’s backend services without permission by exploiting a security hole. Their inclusion in the DOJ lawsuit makes the DOJ look stupid — especially Merrick Garland.

It would be like aggregating the Google drive storage of many free accounts with dummy email addresses and front-ending that with a cloud storage client and selling it as my own cloud storage service that offered a ton of storage for a small fee while freeloading on Google servers. Oh, and then complaining when Google found a way to identify my dummy email addresses and then shut me down.

 

[SoldOnApple]

Must be a lot of money in open source GPL software.

 

[Goodeye]

This acquisition makes no sense to me. Other than Matt owns a social media network (Tumblr) he got on a hell of a deal (3 million when it had been purchased by then Yahoo now Verizon for $1.1 Billion 6 years prior.). He purchased Texts and now Beeper in an attempt to leverage their use into Tumblr I guess.

I suspect Eric was close to having to shut down Beeper and shutter it's doors within 6 months to a year if they couldn't get funding or acquired after their "whack a mole" fight with Apple. Since both companies are private there is no public reporting requirement and so they can just become one with Automattic. Matt says it's all about open source messaging. Why?! The messaging space is so damn fragmented and Matt buying up half baked messaging companies isn't solving anything.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Beeper is more like using stolen phone service that the person you got it from insists is his right to use and redistribute, despite the fact that the phone company owns and operates all the infrastructure.

And how well did that work out for the Bell System?

Oh yeah. They didn't get to tell anybody what they could plug into phone jacks any more, and they got broken up.

Apple should rethink what they're doing.

 

[CarAnalogy]

And how well did that work out for the Bell System?

Oh yeah. They didn't get to tell anybody what they could plug into phone jacks any more, and they got broken up.

Apple should rethink what they're doing.

And you're saying iMessage is as powerful a monopoly as the company that literally owned every telephone line in the country? And that Apple is as restrictive as AT&T was pre-Carterfone? I don't think it's an analogous situation. But there are plenty of other analogies for Beeper's theft of service. There's even a term for it, theft of service!

 

[macduke]

This just proves Automattic will buy anything and everything. Hell, they bought this comment. Wordpress is great!

 

[Dj64Mk7]

This just proves Automattic will buy anything and everything. Hell, they bought this comment. Wordpress is great!

Sarcasm aside, I have no idea why but whenever I think of Wordpress I think of niche blogs from the 2010s that seem really sketchy and untrustworthy, yet hold valuable information.

 

[scrm]

I presume this acquisition is for Automattic’s unified messaging app, texts.com. I’ve used it and while it works, it sure is janky. As the message service providers block them (recently this happened with Signal), they release new versions to get around the blocks. They are always playing catch-up, trying to open services that don’t want to be open. It’s not sustainable.

Maybe I’ll be proved wrong but it seems Automattic sure are making some odd bets recently.

 

[svish]

Wonder what Beeper will achieve in the future with iMessages after the acquisition.

 

[JungeQuex]

Beeper was not a competing messaging service. It was a messaging client using somebody else’s backend services without permission by exploiting a security hole. Their inclusion in the DOJ lawsuit makes the DOJ look stupid — especially Merrick Garland.

It would be like aggregating the Google drive storage of many free accounts with dummy email addresses and front-ending that with a cloud storage client and selling it as my own cloud storage service that offered a ton of storage for a small fee while freeloading on Google servers. Oh, and then complaining when Google found a way to identify my dummy email addresses and then shut me down.

It makes the DOJ look stupid because it’s just the next step in a global exercise to punish Apple and attempt to rip them apart because they don’t generally pay to play on Moron Idiot Hill in Washington to kiss some loser “lawmaker’s” ring.

And you're saying iMessage is as powerful a monopoly as the company that literally owned every telephone line in the country? And that Apple is as restrictive as AT&T was pre-Carterfone? I don't think it's an analogous situation. But there are plenty of other analogies for Beeper's theft of service. There's even a term for it, theft of service!

Love the Beeper employee in here making an angry face on all of your posts.

 

[markfc]

I miss ICQ

 

[SurferPup]

"because the DoJ has "sued Apple for blocking Beeper Mini's access to iMessage." " - another example of DinJ (Departmental InJustice). This highlights to the public how damaging this Government department is.

 

[contacos]

so they're trying to make a competitor in the fully saturated messaging space... good luck Eric. You've already found your exit once.

As often with acquisitions, they probably just want the knowledge, technology and potential patents and you won't actually see another product that is similar to what they did before.

 

[.wojtek]

Beeper mini aside, well, just like Netflix, one company tried to unite an industry but end up finding more companies popping up wanting to take a piece of the pie of their own. Today’s message apps are like cable TV and beeper is like Netflix back in the day.

Will this work? I don’t know and I can only let time to tell.

if only there were an universal messaging protocol that would allow interoperability... oh well, what a shame we don't have XMPP that solves all that problems but we have capitalist, greedy companies that care only about their bottomline and pull walled garden stuff... 🙄

 

[SpanishAppleNerd]

so they're trying to make a competitor in the fully saturated messaging space... good luck Eric. You've already found your exit once.

Apart of what @contacos has said, beeper is not a messaging app per se, but rather an aggregator

 

[georgeguimaraes]

Wow, Automattic already had bought Texts.com (I’m a customer) and now Beeper CEO will be Head of Messaging?

I always thought about Texts and Beeper as competing apps in the aggregating communicator space, and now I feel that there Texts will halt. Maybe even Beeper.

Btw, Texts is unique in that it syncs the read and archives status with the original app. So you can mark a conversation in Beeper as archived and sure enough, the same conversation in LinkedIn (or Whatsapp, or …) gets archives as well.