Google acquires Sparrow for less than 25 Million

[Stromgold]

Sparrow, one of the most popular email app clients for iOS devices, is now the property of Google.

Today, Sparrow's Dom Leca announced that his third party email client company had been purchased by Google, and we just talked to sources familiar with the situation. The talks have been ongoing for a while; Sparrow was well known, and our sources say Google recognized that the five-person-team had a "lot of expertise in how to make mail communication really simple." While we couldn't get an exact number, we're told that Sparrow was acquired for under $25 million, and that there wasn't a bidding war surrounding the purchase. Our source couldn't specify a timeline, but the goal is to get the Paris-based Sparrow team in-house on the main Mountain View campus in California.

In an email to users, Dom Leca explained that Sparrow products won't be receiving new features, and the team will be joining the Gmail team. While some of the work that Sparrow has done on its native iPad app may be seen in future releases from the Gmail team, it's safe to assume that the app won't be released in its Sparrow-branded form. Still, the Sparrow iOS and Mac apps will continue to be available from Apple's App Stores. As far as when we'll start to see some of the Sparrow DNA integrated into Google's products, there's no timeline yet.

http://sprw.me/

[tamzid]

pawned!

[Agent-A01]

Sparrow was well known

Ive never heard of it..

[INSTG8R]

Originally Posted by Agent-A01

Ive never heard of it..

Ditto. Been using iOS for a few years now. But then I don't do alot of emailing on my phone.

Google buying Apps right under Apples nose

[lucidus]

Heard of it but never found any compelling reason to use it over the Mail app :-/ Meh.

[WindtalkerCS]

This is beyond sleezey, they put their app on sale just last week with promises of future features and then abandon the app entirely less than a week later.

[seaplane pilot]

Fark! the Google Machine!

[HeavyHemi]

Quite devilish of me!

[Finchwizard]

Yet ANOTHER program that Google have bought and will kill off.

Apple have got NOTHING on the amount of money spending to buy and kill off Apps.

[Exodite]

*shrug* Because clearly no other company have bought up technologies that could have benefited multiple platforms if they had remained independent?

See Apple and C3 Technologies, RIM and TAT and so on.

To my mind Google's purchase of Sparrow is equally worthy of notice, ie. not at all. Then again the Android release of Instragram did teach us that the iOS community don't handle sharing their toys very well.

[Finchwizard]

They aren't doing anything with it.

They're just doing security updates and killing it.

Just like the NASCAR deal between Google making their App Android only.
Developers wanted to have it for both, but nope. Google made the deal exclusively for Android.

Everyone keeps bring up that Apple are the dodgy ones. I see Google doing just as many sneaky deals and buying of programs.

Only difference is that Google keep trying to convince you they're the good guys. And you're all eating it hook line and sinker.

I can see they're both dodgy.

[Exodite]

Nothing like a bit of unsubstantiated paranoia to make your point, eh?

[Finchwizard]

Originally Posted by Exodite

Nothing like a bit of unsubstantiated paranoia to make your point, eh?

/yawn

Typical Exodite response.

[CronoGraal]

Originally Posted by Agent-A01

Ive never heard of it..

Me neither.

[Exodite]

Originally Posted by Finchwizard

Typical Exodite response.

There's an easy solution to that though, merely stop making typical Finch posts in the first place.

That said I'm happy I've distracted you enough to let go of the pro-Apple/anti-Google ranting after just two posts. Perhaps that means this thread can be allowed to continue relatively unimpeded.

[WindtalkerCS]

Originally Posted by Exodite

Nothing like a bit of unsubstantiated paranoia to make your point, eh?

Right in their press release they state that the app is being killed, not sure how much more substantiated it can get.

[Stromgold]

Originally Posted by Finchwizard

Just like the NASCAR deal between Google making their App Android only.
Developers wanted to have it for both, but nope. Google made the deal exclusively for Android.

Of course a company will make something exclusive to their brand if they can. Its a pretty common practice, but I don't really like it. For example, I see lots of games that I would love to try that are exclusive to PS3 or to XBox. I only play computer games. So, that bothers me a little, but I wouldn't call it "dodgy".

I'll bet that if Guru3d could make a deal in which that all nvidia news and updates come only through the guru3d site, you would jump on it in a heartbeat. Who could blame you for that?

[Exodite]

Originally Posted by WindtalkerCS

Right in their press release they state that the app is being killed, not sure how much more substantiated it can get.

You need to take his entire post in the same context to get my point, not just the choice bits.

Of course Sparrow isn't going to continue being developed, that's not the same as Google not doing anything with the technology though.

Or in any way related to the random Google conspiracy theories that follows.

Or implying that this is something new that no other company, Finch's fave brand among them, hasn't been doing for quite some time already. Then again, Apple is more (in)famous for cannibalizing their own ecosystem for applications and technology than they are the competition.

[k1net1cs]

But Apple isn't really like Google, Exo.
All Apple did was rejecting a submitted app, copying features from said app to be integrated to its newer version of iOS, and later on claiming it's a 'brand new feature' with similarities in icon design from the rejected app.
See, no buying companies whatsoever.

Wi-Fi Sync anyone?

Sure, it's an isolated case (or not?), but there's a difference between Google and Apple in terms of swallowing others' ideas and/or quashing competitions.

Personally, both parties can suck schlongs.

[Exodite]

Originally Posted by k1net1cs

But Apple isn't really like Google, Exo.

In so far as Google not having performed that particular trick (yet), agreed.

Apple is no stranger to buying up budding technologies and integrating them into their own ecosystem, however.

I mentioned Apple/C3 and RIM/TAT before but the list can certainly be extended. Indeed, search your favorite tech blog for 'acquisitions' and I'm sure you'd have enough reading for quite some time.

The point I'm trying to make being that this is a complete non-item and the only thing making this news-worthy, and I'm using the term quite generously here, is that losing exclusive applications have been proven to go down badly with the iOS community.

I'd say that as far as gobbling up technology goes the worst hit might well have been RIM gobbling up QNX and that barely even made the news.

Now people are making a big deal out of an iOS-exclusive email client being bought up by Google and integrated into Gmail? To me that's just flaunting ignorance in the face of the bigger picture.

[Neo Cyrus]

Hopefully Google will patent breathing and order Apple to asphyxiate. It wouldn't come close to all the patent trolling Apple has done but it would be a step in the right direction.

No Google aren't good guys, they're just the lesser evil. I'll take the devil which doesn't patent the rectangle thank you.

[PhazeDelta1]

If the roles were reversed and it was Google who was doing the patient trolling, would this thread be any different?

Discuss.