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Beeper Mini is back

blog.beeper.com

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Re: Beeper Mini is back

#301

Post by dwaite »

pb7 wrote: post #202
lacker wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best case outcome is to get publicity leading to US and EU antitrust regulators to file a lawsuit against Apple, both of which Apple loses. The conclusion of this lawsuit is that not only must Apple allow access to iMessage, they also must allow changing the default for every component of iOS - messaging app, browser, app store, let you replace Siri with other voice assistants - and to lower the 30% app store fee…

If we’re talking best case outcomes, then why settle for 10%? 0%! Free distribution for everyone.

Or even Apple paying developers a cut of iPhone sales, since apps provide so much value to the hardware ecosystem.

And maybe a pony.

Re: Beeper Mini is back

#303

Post by freedomben »

exabrial wrote: post #280

Apple is writing their own death sentence here. Beeper Mini's case will definitely be used against them when their anti-monopoly case inevitably comes about: 1. Forcing a monopoly when they force-migrated their users to iMessage 2. Maintaining said monopoly by keeping third parties out Best thing they could do is put third party clients into a MFI like program and loads of red tape.

Why do you think an anti-monopoly case will ever come? Europe has dropped it, and US pretty much everyone in power (and all their families/friends) is an iphone user. They're probably completely unaware that there's a problem, and even if made aware they have positive vibes for Big Gray

Re: Beeper Mini is back

#304

Post by throw310822 »

maratc wrote: post #227

Living in the country where absolutely no one uses iMessage, the whole kerfuffle about the colour of the message bubble leaves me completely flabbergasted. I mean, probably the curvature of the Earth is involved, but from here this looks like a very small hill to die on.

Me too. But rather than the colour of the bubble, what leaves me flabbergasted is the fact that there is a country where people seem to associate a stigma to owning a phone of a brand perceived as being "less luxurious", and even take some pleasure in inflicting some annoyance on those in the outgroup. And all this because, hear, iMessage is the default app. Not because of some choice, or because alternatives aren't available. No, because default.

Re: Beeper Mini is back

#305

Post by jimbob45 »

misnome wrote: post #258
petemir wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US? When has that ever happened in the last 30 years? United States vs. Microsoft Corp, 2001? [0] And ongoing: United States vs. Google LLC (2020) [1] and United States vs Google LLC (2023) [2]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Google_LLC_(2... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Google_LLC_(2... Edited: formatting

> United States vs. Microsoft Corp, 2001? [0] As the wikipedia page you yourself are citing, overturned on appeal. > And ongoing: United States vs. Google LLC (2020) [1] and United States vs Google LLC (2023) [2]. Ongoing, so a bit hard to count these as evidence of successful market regulation.

Overturned on appeal but MS was fined heavily over the years using the same justification. The one I remember off the top of my head was the WMP fine[0].

If you have an OS, everything within should be open for competition and courts have generally ruled as such for years.

[0]https://www.npr.org/2007/09/17/14465160/eu-court-defeats-mic...

Re: Beeper Mini is back

#306

Post by smoldesu »

kulahan wrote: post #241
jay-barronville wrote: post #228

I’m a former Android fanatic turned iPhone user. I still own Android devices, but my primary device is an iPhone. I haven’t had something excite me as much as this Beeper Mini situation in years—I love that they’re doing this. One of the things that got me to switch to the iPhone a few years ago was the fact that it seemed Apple was actually doing a lot of the right things when it came to privacy and security. Obviou…

>They're on the wrong side of history. Say that to their market cap. Seems a lot of people appreciate what comes with that drawback. Revealed preferences can be a sonuvabitch.

I will say that to their market cap. Such an insane capitalization on digital sales can only be achieved by extinguishing the alternatives your platform can host. It's a regressive featureset that can (apparently) only be reversed through legislative demands a-la Digital Market Act.

Many, many companies have had huge market caps while funding anti-humanist or exploitative processes. Given Apple's scale you almost have to assume that they're abusing something lucrative.

Re: Beeper Mini is back

#308

Post by pinewurst »

qrohlf wrote: post #29

I’m curious what their best-case outcome is here. It’s fully transparent at this point that Apple has no appetite for a third party iMessage client on any platform and will take whatever technical steps needed to prevent this from happening. I’d wager heavily that even if Beeper plays cat-and-mouse to the point where they’ve exhausted Apple’s budget for blocking them and somehow managed to avoid Apple’s legal team pu…

"exhausted Apple's budget for stopping them"

Is this "THX1138"? Is this the Manhattan Project?

It's Apple management asking a messaging lead to spend a few minutes figuring out how Beeper is masquerading and submitting a fix.

Re: Beeper Mini is back

#309

Post by JeremyNT »

bentt wrote: post #273

The whole green bubble thing with Android SMS on iPhone is a problem, but the solution is to get everyone to use a different chat app. Apple will never give this up. Google could be leading that charge and providing a world beating chat app that works across all phones and all desktop devices. They have every reason to provide the best chat app in the world and yank iPhone users over to it. Instead they have given up…

> The whole green bubble thing with Android SMS on iPhone is a problem, but the solution is to get everyone to use a different chat app. Apple will never give this up.

There are so many competitors in this space, you really can't claim it's for lack of trying.

Defaults are powerful, especially for Apple users.

Re: Beeper Mini is back

#310

Post by freedomben »

Longhanks wrote: post #248
solardev wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the event Apple loses in Europe, I wonder what would happen. Would they really open up iMessage worldwide? Just in Europe? Shut it down there altogether since WhatsApp is already so popular there anyway, and their US market is bigger? And what does this do for Beeper, anyway? If they open it up, wouldn't Google and Samsung just integrate it into their first party messaging clients? It seems as precarious a positio…

Whatever legislation they face, they will implement it in the most hostile way towards non-Apple services/users/companies. See how they implement off-App Store payments in the Netherlands and/or South Korea. Apple is not giving up on iMessage. And, given the legislation becomes to cumbersome to deal with, they will withdraw from countries - they threatened to withdraw iMessage from the UK already. The EU is already b…

Yep, also the EU has already dropped their iMessage thing
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