Beeper Mini is Just About Done →

Eric Migicovsky, writing on the Beeper blog:

Each time that Beeper Mini goes ‘down’ or is made to be unreliable due to interference by Apple, Beeper’s credibility takes a hit. It’s unsustainable. As much as we want to fight for what we believe is a fantastic product that really should exist, the truth is that we can’t win a cat-and-mouse game with the largest company on earth.

With our latest software release, we believe we’ve created something that Apple can tolerate existing. We do not have any current plans to respond if this solution is knocked offline. The iMessage connection software that powers Beeper Mini and Beeper Cloud is now 100% open source (github.com/beeper/imessage). Anyone who wants can use it or continue development.

That latest update is wild, according to Tim Hardwick:

In its latest effort to keep the service afloat, Beeper will suggest that users get hold of an old iPhone to get iMessage working on their Android phone. Users will then be asked to install a free Beeper tool to generate an iMessage registration code that will reinstate the ability to register phone numbers on the service. The catch is that the iPhone must first be jailbroken, and it must be kept plugged into power, at home, and connected to Wi-Fi for periodic registration re-requests.

Regardless of what you think about Apple’s control over iMessage, it’s clear this party is over.