The Android Developers Blog just posted information on updating apps to support the new public SMS APIs. Starting with 4.4, the user will have to select a default SMS app, and only the default SMS app can write to the SMS Provider.
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2013/10/getting-your-sms-apps-ready-for-kitkat.html
The only thing troubling is in the second paragraph.
Well, technically, next week is later this year. And, regardless, there is only about 2 1/2 months left in this year so even if we're talking December, it's only a little over a month away.