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FCC commissioner Brendan Carr said Monday that the government agency should look into Apple over the ship’s company ’s decision to stop the Beeper Mini service , which worked on impart iMessage to Android .
Pebble founderEric Migicovsky’sBeeperlaunched a new service called Beeper Mini in December , which take to havereverse - engineered the iMessage stackto make it work on Android . The next few days were like a cat - and - mouse game whereApple halt Beeper Mini repeatedlyand the latter tried to find a fix . Later in the calendar month , Beeper kick in up itsattempts to make iMessage work on Android through Beeper Mini , call the try “ unsustainable . ”
Carr spill the beans about look at this saga with theFCC ’s Part 14 rulesin judgment . These rules outline that “ advanced communications service ” should be “ approachable to and usable by individuals with disabilities . ”
Today , I call for the@FCCto investigate whether Apple violated our Part 14 rules by blocking Beeper Mini – an app that enabled interoperability between iOS & Android messaging .
Beeper bridged the “ blue bubble – green bubble ” divide that Apple maintain as part of a broader…pic.twitter.com/vxefQZKDXb
— Brendan Carr ( @BrendanCarrFCC)February 12 , 2024
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“ Apple ’s wider set of exclusionary recitation warrant examination by antimonopoly and competition agencies , but the FCC should also try this particular incident through the lens of our Part 14 rules on accessibility , useableness , and compatibility , ” he said .
Carr said that Beeper Mini promote some of those rationale like accessibility and serviceableness for multitude with disabilities .
He called out Apple , say that provider “ shall not install web features , functions , or capabilities that impede accessibility or usability . ”
The FCC did n’t immediately notice on plans to investigate the matter .
Apple ’s decision seems to have caught regulators ’ eye . In December , a bipartisangroup of U.S. lawmakersrequested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate Apple ’s “ potential anticompetitive discussion ” of Beeper , saying that “ interoperability and interconnection have long been key driver of rivalry and consumer choice in communications service . ” Separately , Senator Elizabeth Warren had alsocriticized Apple ’s move at that meter .
