Katie Marsal
Messages was previously available for users of OS X 10.7 Lion to try for free before the application becomes a standard feature in Mountain Lion. But after Monday's keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference, Cult of Mac noticed that Apple removed the link to download the Messages for Mac beta.
A link to the Messages beta still exists on Apple's official "Downloads" website. However, the link now simply points to Apple's promotional site for Mountain Lion, its forthcoming Mac operating system upgrade.
When Mountain Lion launches, Messages will replace iChat, though it will offer all of the functions of its predecessor. In addition, Messages also connects with iMessage, allowing users to send unlimited messages to anyone on a Mac, or an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or later.
With "Messages Everywhere," users will also be able to start an iMessage conversation on their Mac and continue it on the go on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The new application also features end-to-end encryption for safe and private messaging.
The Messages for Mac Beta was first released in February to test the new service and give users a preview of a major feature of Mountain Lion. It requires that users be running OS X 10.7.3 or later.
Apple announced on Monday that OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will arrive in the Mac App Store in July. It will cost just $19.99 for those upgrading from OS X 10.7 Lion. Apple also provided developers with the fourth Developer Preview of Mountain Lion this week.
Wesley Hilliard
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18 Comments
Ugh, just frigging combine it with FaceTime, Apple!
AIM is going to be shut down at any time, which means the old "iChat" portion of Messages will be dead, killing off four-way video and iChat Theater… Just get your ducks in a row and give us one application!
Glad I re-downloaded it yesterday then - I love Messages on my Mac!
Just as an FYI, since I've not seen this anywhere else on Apple Insider, but a lot of people at my work have ended up with bricked Macs following the Thunderbolt update. I think Apple have pulled the update now, but if not, you might want to hold off on performing that one.
I'm not familiar with Messages. Is it a chat client like MSN or is it a universal client like, say, Trillian?
Will it only allow me to chat with others using the same client or anyone on any chat client?
I'm not familiar with Messages.
Messages is iChat plus iMessage from iOS.
Infinite free text, picture, and video messages sent to and between any iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac running the appropriate software.
As Messages is iChat, it includes support for AIM (dying), Jabber (basically unused), Yahoo! chat, and everything else under the sun except for Skype, who, if I may, are whores that don't understand what a standard is.
[quote name="PaulMJohnson" url="/t/150649/apple-pulls-messages-for-mac-beta-ahead-of-mountain-lion#post_2126224"]Glad I re-downloaded it yesterday then - I love Messages on my Mac! Just as an FYI, since I've not seen this anywhere else on Apple Insider, but a lot of people at my work have ended up with bricked Macs following the Thunderbolt update. I think Apple have pulled the update now, but if not, you might want to hold off on performing that one. [/quote] I'm just glad they are tying it together better on the backend. If I tie my phone number to iMessage account then I expect anyone who sends me an iMessage via my phone number to have it go to tall my devices with iMessage unless otherwise specified. Telling people to not send to my phone number but to my iCloud ID was a chore.