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Beeper acquired by Automattic

blog.beeper.com

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Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#11

Post by austinkhale »

Belphemur wrote: post #5

I wonder if the plan is to merge Beeper and Texts.com. They both look verify similar in their features. Maybe texts.com for the Apple Ecosystem and Beeper for the Android one ? After all, Beeper just released their new version of the app for Android.

Seems that way. From the announcement: "This is a big bet. Automattic is doubling down on chat after their acquisition last year of Texts.com, a messaging app with a similar mission. Our teams and products will merge, and I will take on the role leading the team as Head of Messaging. It will take a bit of time for us to integrate and combine forces under the Beeper brand. We’ve got big plans!"

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#12

Post by user_7832 »

Honestly given how dim of a view Apple takes of others tearing down their artificial walls, having the (legal) backing of a large company might be a good thing... assuming they don't shut it down of course.

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#13

Post by jamesmunns »

xenospn wrote: post #6
kilroy123 wrote: post #4

I hope they don't change the pricing after this. I've been using Beeper for a few years now.

I’m not familiar with their business model - what value are you getting by paying for a messaging app?

Yeah, having all of your messaging in one place is amazing. Especially since they support a decent long tail of DM services as well.

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#14

Post by theamk »

eugenekolo wrote: post #7

Smart of Beeper to accept an acquisition/exit as soon as possible before their product gets further eroded by non-public APIs they're reliant on. Tough to build a business where at any time your product can get wiped out by Apple/Meta.

I would not be surprised if this was their plan from day 1:

(1) Create a product which relies on non-public APIs which can be disabled at any time.

(2) Generate lots of press visibility.

(3) Sell itself to some gullible org before the whole thing comes crashing down.

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#15

Post by lagniappe »

jamesmunns wrote: post #2

I really like Beeper, and congrats to them for getting acquired, but my first reaction is "aw damn how long until the parts I love about Beeper get incredible journey'd away". The new android app is really good, the desktop app has always been a step up from other Element apps I've used (it is a distant fork, these days), I don't have iMessage, but it works great with Matrix and Signal and WhatsApp a ton of other "ra…

>incredible journey'd away

I'm calling Webster's right now.

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#17

Post by basisword »

edude03 wrote: post #3

Kind of surprising, 1- because Automatic is known for wordpress, what's the play with messaging? 2- They apparently acquired texts.com as well so clearly an area they are interested in. I also would prefer not to see consolidation but also I imagine it's hard to make money on this kind of product so maybe that drove the decision to merge?

Automattic owns a few properties other than Wordpress now. They also own Pocketcasts (podcast client), Tumblr, and Day One (journalling software).

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#18

Post by BadHumans »

If they had to get acquired, Automattic is most likely the best I could've hoped for. The backing of a large company might help Beeper get more formalized APIs since they depend on hidden APIs and hacks to do what they do.

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#19

Post by beeboobaa3 »

bluish29 wrote: post #9
xenospn wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not familiar with their business model - what value are you getting by paying for a messaging app?

Not having to use multiple messaging apps. Some people would pay for this convenience. i.e They support several messaging apps so I don't have to tell peopl thag I don't use WhatsApp now.

> so I don't have to tell peopl thag I don't use WhatsApp now

Because you actually are using WhatsApp?

> Some people would pay for this convenience

Some remember when this used to be widespread and free: https://www.pidgin.im/

Re: Beeper acquired by Automattic

#20

Post by ClaraForm »

eugenekolo wrote: post #7

Smart of Beeper to accept an acquisition/exit as soon as possible before their product gets further eroded by non-public APIs they're reliant on. Tough to build a business where at any time your product can get wiped out by Apple/Meta.

I'm confused, because it legally sounds like the opposite right? All these platforms are legally going to be requested to open up sooner or later because of recent EU rulings. Perhaps Beeper just ran out of runway? They thought they'd be making money in December with their iMessage move, and now it's April?
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