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No matter what, as long as we continue to communicate with each other, messaging will never die. Individual messaging platforms will come and go but the idea of instant messaging has existed for about as long as the internet. $175M might be a steal if Beeper gets more mass market appeal.

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Yes. Messaging will never die. Given that, why has it been so difficult for so many to get a toe-hold - and be sustainable - for so long?

I agree with the sentiment of your comment. However, I'm not sure it answers: what's the justification of this purchase? What does the buyer know that others have not?

Yeah, my first response was going to be that the paid messaging app business model hasn't worked that entire time. But what we've learned from Whatsapp is that there may be other ways to monetize (Whatsapp Business). Still not an obvious bet IMO but you're right that owning the messaging layer is valuable.

These apps are a gateway drug onto the Matrix protocol thereby eliminating the monopoly position of trillion dollar (evil) companies like WhatsApp (Meta).

What is the market size of people who care about "eliminating the monopoly position of trillion dollar (evil) companies"? And how will you monetize them?

Not that either Apple or Meta are even close to having a monopoly position in messaging.

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