A major disclaimer here since we’re depending on the word of the company: Beeper mini, a multi-platform messaging business established by Eric Migicovsky, a former employee of YC and Pebble, offered an iMessage experience for Android that eliminates the need for middlemen and should be private and safe. Since it lets users convert to Android without losing the blue bubbles that we North Americans seem to love so much, it could shed light on just how much lock-in value iMessage has for Apple and the iPhone.
To be honest, it has been a very easy decision for me, at least one that I had been struggling with for the past few weeks: To be more precise, I’m moving my primary everyday smartphone from the iPhone 15 Pro to the OnePlus Open. I was initially drawn to the OnePlus Open because of its foldable design and what I can only characterize as a distinct personality and character that I have grown to love from the images captured by its Hasselblad-powered camera system. The popularity of Android in general is rising, in part because, in contrast to Apple, Google appears to be eager to interact with and include AI features when they make sense.
I’m a simple North American, so iMessage has been the one thing preventing me from making the transition. Not that I’m particularly attached to the platform in comparison to alternatives like Signal and WhatsApp. However, I value the relationships I have with the people in my life, and sharing high-resolution media with them or in many of my current group chats would not be appropriate places for green bubble vibes.
The fact is, this happened, and it’s not going away anytime soon. It’s not worth arguing over why people, specifically Americans and Canadians, seemed to have been happy to let this happen rather than switching to another cross-platform messaging service with all or more of the same features and none of the platform lock-in.
You have to play the card you’re dealt, and in terms of interoperability and messaging platforms, Apple has essentially always been dealt a winning hand. Though it uses the well-established legal defense of reverse engineering for interoperability as its primary justification for why Apple won’t just kill it, Beeper’s approach avoids the most contentious legal issues while still delivering functional service as of right now.
The OnePlus Open, which has its shortcomings but does a great job of illuminating how Apple is relying on lock-in retention features like iMessage to cover up a lack of innovation and a reluctance to try new things, is the phone I enjoy using the most right now. So far, it’s functioning well enough that I feel confident I won’t miss out on the few connections I have that live exclusively in iMessage.
Technically or legally, Apple killing this is the most likely outcome here, but Beeper is in a strong position because regulators are currently keeping a tight eye on it for just that kind of activity. Hopefully, they are granted permission to proceed so that we can determine the exact extent to which iMessage represents a small portion of the North American smartphone market.
