FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Monday that the FCC should investigate Apple over the company's decision to block the Beeper Mini service, which was working to bring iMessage to Android.
Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky's Beeper launched a new service in December called Beeper Mini. The service claims to have reverse engineered the iMessage stack to run on Android. The next few days were a cat-and-mouse game as Apple repeatedly blocked Beeper Mini and Beeper Mini tried to find a solution. Later that month, Beeper abandoned his attempt to get iMessage to work on his Android through Beeper Mini, calling it “unsustainable.”
Carr said he views this story with the FCC's Part 14 rules in mind. These rules outline that “enhanced communications services” must be “accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities.”
“While Apple's extensive exclusionary practices warrant scrutiny by antitrust and competition authorities, the FCC also needs to investigate this particular incident in light of the company's Part 14 rules regarding accessibility, usability, and compatibility. “There is,” he said.
Carr said Beeper Mini promoted some of its principles, such as accessibility and ease of use for people with disabilities.
He urged Apple that providers “must not install network features, features, or capabilities that impede accessibility or ease of use.”
The FCC did not immediately comment on its plans to investigate the matter.
Apple's decision appears to have caught the attention of regulators. In December, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Apple's “possible anticompetitive treatment” of Beeper, stating that “interoperability and interconnectivity have long been an issue in competition in communications services. and were a major driver of consumer choice.” Separately, Sen. Elizabeth Warren also criticized Apple's move at the time.