Apple’s shutdown of Beeper Mini sets the stage for investigation over iMessage interoperability

Beeper Mini managed to pull off the impossible in bringing a proper iMessage app to Android, but Apple shut it down in a matter of days. Now, members of the US government are calling for an investigation into Apple’s shutdown of Beeper Mini, which sets the stage for much bigger conversations.

A little over a week after Apple confirmed that it shut down Beeper Mini (mostly), four US representatives are calling on the US Department of Justice to look into the matter. A letter to the Assistant Attorney General calls on the DOJ’s Antitrust Divison to investigate whether Apple’s shutdown of Beeper’s service “violated the antitrust laws.”

The letter was signed by senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee, as well as US representatives Jerrold Nadler and Ken Buck. Notably, the letter has bipartisan support.

Through the letter, Congress members cited a report from the Department of Commerce where Apple was described as a “gatekeeper” and also mentioned that “Apple executives have previously admitted the company leverages iMessage to lock users into Apple’s ecosystem of devices and services.” That is likely referring to emails where Craig Federighi said that releasing iMessage on Android would “simply serve to remove an obstacle” in parents buying their children Android phones.

The letter, shared by Jo Ling Kent of CBS News reads in part:

We are therefore concerned that Apple’s recent actions to disable Beeper Mini harm competition, eliminate choices for consumers, and will discourage future innovation and investment in interoperable messaging services. We also fear these types of tactics may more broadly chill future investment and innovation for those that seek to compete with existing digital gatekeepers. Thus, we refer this matter to the Antitrust Divsion to investigate whether this potentially anticompetitive conduct by Apple violated antitrust laws.

While it’s unclear how this whole situation could end, a proper investigation of this whole situation probably won’t really lead to Apple being forced to allow Beeper Mini. While the reverse engineering method Beeper used to bring the product to life is legally protected, Apple has no obligation to allow that to continue.

What this does do, however, is open the door to much bigger questions.

Throughout the letter, interoperability and competition are mentioned in several areas, and that seemingly sets the stage for an investigation to look into how Apple handles this service, which could be a rather big deal. That said, we’ll really just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, CBS News interviewed Eric Migicovsky regarding Beeper Mini and also discussed the letter in a segment shared on Twitter/X.

More on Beeper:

• Beeper’s iMessage for Android is broken for ‘more than 60%’ of users
• Comment: iMessage for Android was fun while it lasted
• Hands-on: Beeper Mini might be even better than an actual iMessage app for Android

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