Beeper, the upstart messaging app that attempts to corral all your messaging services into one inbox, is being acquired by Automattic, the giant that runs Wordpress.com, Tumblr, and a number of other hugely popular web properties

This is exciting especially given some of the recent developments in the EU. What's most interesting to me is how Beeper leverages open protocols like Matrix and for bridging capabilities where possible to provide secure messaging.

With more people moving to smaller spaces to communicate with their communities, being able to do so in a single place without everyone being on the same platform like in the early days of the internet is a welcome development.

Additional coverage from the Beeper blog.

What we’re announcing today…

• No more waitlist – Beeper is now available to everyone!
• Beeper has been acquired by Automattic
• Our new Android app is out of beta
• We’re renaming Beeper Cloud → Beeper (sorry for the confusion)

and Matt Mullenweg's blog

Today the announcement went out that we’re combining the best technology from Beeper and Texts to create a great private, secure, and open source messaging client for people to have control of their communications. We’re going to use the Beeper brand, because it’s fun. This is not unlike how browsers have evolved, where solid tech and encryption on top of an open ecosystem has created untold value for humanity.

A lot of people are asking about iMessage on Android… I have zero interest in fighting with Apple, I think instead it’s best to focus on messaging networks that want more engagement from power-user clients. This is an area I’m excited to work on when I return from my sabbatical next month.