WordPress and Tumblr proprietor Automattic has purchased Beeper, the maker of the Beeper Mini app that challenged Apple’s iMessage dominion late final yr. Though it in the end misplaced that battle (after, oh, about three days), the incident gave the DOJ extra ammunition in its antitrust swimsuit in opposition to the iPhone maker. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Automattic paid $125 million, a surprisingly hefty value for the startup.
Automattic already has an app known as Texts that faucets into the APIs of varied chat companies for a common messaging expertise. Beeper has primarily the identical mission and branding, and the 2 opponents will now merge their groups beneath Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky, who will be part of Automattic.
You may additionally keep in mind Migicovsky because the creator of the Pebble smartwatch, the charmingly easy pre-Apple Watch system that helped kickstart mainstream curiosity in wearable tech within the early 2010s. On Tuesday, he informed The New York Instances that Beeper and Texts will launch a mixed service later this yr. The 2 groups will reportedly start work in two weeks throughout a gathering in Portugal.
On Tuesday, Migicovsky wrote in a weblog put up that the 2 corporations go means again. “Matt [Mullenweg], Automattic’s CEO, and I’ve recognized one another for years,” he wrote. “He was an early person, supporter and investor in Beeper. We’re very effectively aligned on our purpose (construct the very best chat app on earth), method (open supply the place attainable), and independence (Beeper will function independently as a part of Automattic’s Different Bets division).”
Automattic’s shopping for value is a little bit of a head-scratcher, contemplating Beeper Mini’s declare to fame — iMessage integration on Android — was squashed after only some days within the highlight. Beeper framed the temporary showdown as a struggle for open, safe messaging requirements. (It additionally helped the startup make extra of a reputation for itself.) Apple noticed it as a risk to one in every of its walled backyard’s most important sights: the iPhone-to-iPhone chats’ blue bubbles with options like reactions and higher-resolution picture and video-sharing.
One more reason to query Automattic’s acquisition value is Apple’s plan to carry RCS (wealthy communication companies) help to iPhones later this yr. Though the bubbles will stay inexperienced between iPhone and Android customers, RCS chats replicate a lot of the iMessage attraction with the same function set, together with end-to-end encryption.
Automattic’s interim chief govt, Toni Schneider, informed The NYT that he sees the regulatory tradewinds blowing in a extra open route that may favor cross-platform, common messaging apps like Beeper. Nonetheless, from my understanding, tapping into different companies’ APIs is one thing the best coders might simply duplicate (together with the Texts crew Automattic already owned). Maybe the actual most important attraction was the model Beeper constructed for itself in taking over Apple.
