Automattic, owner of WordPress and Tumblr, acquired Beeper, maker of the Beeper Mini app that challenged Apple’s iMessage service, late last year. he bought. Bloombergreported that Automattic paid $125 million for the deal.
Automattic already has an app called Texts that leverages the APIs of various chat services for a universal messaging experience. In this sense, the two former rivals will now combine their teams under Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky, who will join Automattic. As a reminder, Migicovsky is the creator of the Pebble smartwatch, a pre-Apple Watch device that helped kick-start mainstream interest in wearable technology in early 2010.
Moving forward, Migicovsky will serve as Automattic’s Head of Messaging, and Beeper will operate as an independent team. With the acquisition, Beeper is no longer in beta and has been officially released.
Automattic doesn’t plan to revive the Beeper Mini, but is instead using Beeper, a universal chat app available on Android, iOS, and desktop devices. Although Beeper does not currently work with iMessage, it can integrate with multiple chat networks with a universal inbox.
