What's All the Buzz about Beeper and Apple?
Apple has been accused of acting unfairly towards Beeper, an app that extended iMessage to Android users. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren coined the tech giant's actions as anti-competitive. A collection of U.S. lawmakers from both sides agree. They ask the Department of Justice (DOJ) to scrutinize Apple's doings. They point out, "Interoperability and interconnections have always fueled competition and consumer choice in communication services."
Is Apple Playing Fair?
The lawmakers appealed to the U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kanter via a letter. The letter carries the signatures of some mighty names like Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, and Rep. Ken Buck. They highlight that Apple has recently been labeled a "gatekeeper" with a "monopoly" on its app ecosystem by the Department of Commerce.
Moreover, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky had warned about this in 2015. He expressed that "dominant messages services" might put up "barriers to interoperability" before Beeper. And his worry was well-founded.
A Battle between David and Goliath?
The dialogue between Beeper and Apple has been far from calm, with controversial exchanges marking their communications.
Recently, Beeper launched a new app, Beeper Mini, which exploited nascent technology to enable blue bubble iMessage chats for Android users. Concurrent with the introduction of Beeper Mini, the company's original app, a unified platform for multiple messaging services, was rebranded as Beeper Cloud.
Initially, access to Beeper Mini was priced at a modest $1.99/month, but this was waived once Apple started restricting Beeper's messaging capabilities. Although Beeper managed to circumvent these restrictions, Apple retaliated by intentionally obstructing messages for about 5% of Beeper's user base.
Apple justified its actions by citing Beeper's techniques as a significant threat to user security and privacy. It emphasized its cautionary measures as essential for thwarting potential metadata exposure, spam, phishing attacks, and unwanted messages.
Undeterred, Beeper's indomitable CEO, Eric Migicovsky, challenged Apple to commission an independent third-party security audit of the Beeper app. He aims to validate Beeper's commitment to maintaining end-to-end encryption. Apple, conspicuously, has not yet responded to this challenge.
The Beeper Mini app now operates by piggybacking on users' Apple IDs. It will also remain free until further notice due to potential disruptions from Apple.
Echoing the sentiments of his fellow campaigners, Migicovsky praised the "Powerful signal from bipartisan legislators in the House and Senate," promising, "Lots more to come this week."
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The tussle between Beeper and Apple appears poised for escalation, with both sides striving to assert their claims. We will be following and updating this rapidly developing story closely.
