[jkubicek]

I should have said it explicitly, but there was an implicit "couldn't do themselves in a reasonable amount of time".

If the rumors are true, Apple already has iMessage running on Android, they just haven't released it yet. They used to support AIM and other messaging services, so they're no stranger to cross-platform messaging apps. The could probably pull together a Beeper competitor pretty quickly.

[rchaud]

Nobody at Apple would want to work on a second-class citizen app. That's why they'd acquire a company to do it and maintain it.