- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
Apple responds to the Beeper iMessage saga: ‘We took steps to protect our users’::Beeper, like Sunbird and Texts, sought to find a way to bring iMessage to Android users. Its app, Beeper Mini, worked well. But a few days after it launched, Apple took steps to shut it down.
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Apple definitely does, they just think their users are stupid enough to not know the difference.
thinkknowYour average Apple (or Android) user is dumber than a bag of rocks when it comes to technology.
Infinite growth.
They must gain more profit at any cost so their personal shares and shareholders are appeased. Once you have saturated the only next step is exploitation. Push moral boundaries for profit.
They protected their users because if they didn’t they wouldn’t have users. I have asked plenty of friends why they don’t use Android and their response is “it doesn’t have iMessage” and that if it did they would switch.
What’s so special about iMessage?
Nothing. iPhone users are just happily married to it. I have family/friends that would switch to a cheaper non-iPhone that performs just as well if they could keep using iMessage.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“We took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage,” Apple senior PR manager Nadine Haija said in a statement.
Beeper says its process works with no compromise to your encryption or privacy; the company’s documentation says that no one can read the contents of your messages other than you.
Apple has repeatedly made clear that it doesn’t want to bring iMessage to Android: “buy your mom an iPhone,” CEO Tim Cook told a questioner at the Code Conference who wanted a better way to message their Android-toting mother, and the company’s executives have debated Android versions in the past but decided it would cannibalize iPhone sales.
But Beeper Mini was exploiting the iMessage protocol directly, which clearly prompted Apple to tighten its security measures.
When I say that maybe Apple’s concern is that iPhone users are suddenly sending their supposedly Apple-only blue-bubble messages via a company — Beeper — they don’t know about, Migicovsky thinks about it for a second.
And Apple has made clear it intends to win that game, no matter how badly you want to send iMessages from an Android phone.
The original article contains 890 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Headline: Apple be Applin’
I’m not sure why so many are rooting for Beeper. Apple’s response is 100% reasonable - you have a 3rd party service that’s making money by impersonating iOS devices in order to access Apple services. Apple has no way of controlling how many devices will use Beeper and if their system can maintain a good level of service, how these Beeper devices are interacting with iMessage, and whether Beeper is actually keeping iMessage metadata private or just giving lip service.
An analogy would be like Apple is throwing this awesome concert event and Beeper found out a convincing way to fake the tickets, and are actually actively promoting, registering people and profiting off of it. In any reasonable world outfits like this would be shut down immediately and rightfully so.
I don’t understand why people are rooting for Beeper knowing how badly Eric Migicovsky screwed developers on the way out from Pebble Watch.
He already sold a failing company once, and he’s already hit a roadblock with his current company. How long until he gets bored and sells this one?
Also, I was on the waiting list way back when, and declined to sign up for Beeper when I had no indication that my onboarding would be recorded. Then I showed up to the onboarding zoom meeting with a note about it being recorded. No advance notice from a service that claims to respect privacy? You just showed your ass, Beeper. I never signed up, and when I wrote them with follow up questions (“How can I trust that the privacy policy will stay the same if the business is sold to another party?”) they declined to respond to any questions. Months later I would get an automated email reminding me about my place in line like I gave a shit anymore.
I personally don’t trust this companies promises, period. They’ve made it clear they’re less than honest about the privacy stuff and the founders past doesn’t scream “He will stand by this company when things get hard.”
