Lawmakers demand Apple be investigated for Antitrust violations after shutting Beeper Mini،
Apple decided a little over a week ago to put an end to the Beeper Mini application which allowed Android users to use iMessage and become a “blue bubble” on iOS. Let's be real, it's not just the color of the bubble that's at stake here. With access to iMessage, Android users don't need to chat with friends, family, and work colleagues on their
iPhone through the outdated SMS platform.
When an Android user sends a message to an iPhone user, the images and videos shared are of poor quality, there is no end-to-end encryption, no read receipts, no typing indicator and much sure, the text bubbles are green. Apple has already announced that next year it will support RCS and most of these cool features will work on cross-platform chats between iOS and Android users. The latter group will need to have installed an RCS compatible application such as
Google Messages.
For now, however, Apple is willing to protect iMessage, a feature it cites as a selling point for the iPhone. This alone explains why Apple was so reluctant to add RCS support. And while that may be part of the reason Apple shut down Beeper Mini, some lawmakers aren't happy with Apple taking this step. In addition to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who quickly hit out at Apple and called the company anticompetitive, a group of bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter complaining about Apple's actions.
After explaining that to maintain free and open markets in the United States, the Antitrust Division must be able to “control abuses of market power.” The letter then explains what happened and notes that “Apple executives have previously admitted that the company leverages iMessage to lock users into Apple's ecosystem of devices and services. Beeper Mini threatened to reduce this leverage effect by creating [a] a more competitive mobile application market, which in turn a more competitive mobile device market.
The letter also cites a Department of Commerce report titled “Competition in the Mobile Application Ecosystem.” The report calls Apple a “gatekeeper” with a “mobile app ecosystem.” The end of the letter mentions that the four lawmakers who signed it are concerned that Apple's recent actions to disable Beeper Mini will harm competition while harming consumers “and discouraging future innovation and invention in interoperable messaging services.
Lawmakers referred the case to the Antitrust Division to determine whether Apple violated antitrust law.
