The IT Nerd

Earlier today I posted a story about MacRumors finding that Beeper was going to use jailbroken iPhones to keep their iMessage on Android service alive. I can now say that this Reddit thread confirms these plans. In that thread are two links. This one confirms the plans that MacRumors discovered and adds a lot more detail. And it also reveals that you can use a Linux computer to get your iMessage on Android fix as well.

Then there’s this link. I encourage you to read it as it has a lot of talking points from Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky to make them look like they’re the good guy in this fight. And you’re free to draw your own conclusions on that. But here’s my conclusion on this.

Everything that they argue in that link is complete BS.

Beeper does not have the right to hack or reverse engineer they way into iMessage just because Android users don’t have the same messaging experience as iPhone users. I don’t care if Apple is 1% of the market or 100% of the market in the US. That’s in my mind is not something that they can simply do. And to spin it as they’re making things more secure for Android users or opening things up for Android users or somehow they’re making the world a better place is a false economy. Apple on the other hand has every right to do whatever they need to do to shut Beeper down because iMessage is Apple’s sandbox and they get to decide who plays in it. Which at the moment is nobody that isn’t Apple. In fact, and I rarely say this, I don’t understand how Apple with their army of iLawyers haven’t sued Beeper out of existence. Their cat and mouse game with Beeper isn’t a long term solution to this problem. Apple who has been known to lower the boom on companies for less should just lower the boom on Beeper and be done with this.

And I have a message for any Android user who is considering using Beeper’s workaround. You simply deserve better than what Beeper is offering if you really want iMessage on your Android device. Maybe that means Apple is “encouraged” to open iMessage up. Or “encouraged” to embrace other standards such as RCS. Or both Apple and Google are “encouraged” to come up with a universal standard of some sort to make the blue bubble/green bubble thing moot. Whatever that looks like, it would be far better than what Beeper has brought to the table. And that’s what Android (and iOS) users should be advocating for. Strongly. The fact is that if Android users have to hop though this many hoops to get iMessage on Android, it would consume a lot less time and effort on their part to just buy an iPhone if they really want to be a blue bubble person. Beeper isn’t putting forth a solution here. What they’re putting forth is a panacea that will eventually get taken out, destroyed, and burned in a bonfire by Apple. Which in turn will put Android users back to square one in terms of having the iMessage experience. Meaning it’s simply not worth investing their time, effort, and potentially money in chasing a pipe dream.

This entry was posted on December 21, 2023 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.