Google's Sparrow acquisition: bringing 'beauty' to Gmail
Sparrow's Mac OS X and iOS apps were among the most-loved email clients on either platform, providing a much better way to use Gmail. On July 20th, Google announced it had acquired the company and hired its team to help develop Gmail. Sparrow also announced that support for its own apps would be waning, however. Will Dom Leca's team bring us a better Gmail, or will we long for the days of Sparrow's simplistic take on email?
Apps & Software
Developers react to Sparrow's sale to Google: 'they're winners'
Last week Google acquired popular email client Sparrow, and the reactions have been mixed — many users are disappointed that their favourite app won't be getting new features, while others are simply sad that the Sparrow team won't get to work on the projects they want to. A number of notable app developers have weighed in as well, and their reactions make it pretty clear that even with a successful app like Sparrow, building a sustainable development business isn't easy.
"Sparrow did...
'Sent with Sparrow,' no more
While I congratulate the Sparrow team on moving on to bigger and better projects at Google, one thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth: the fact that the Sparrow team is no longer free to build products for itself. When I last spoke at length with Sparrow founder Dom Leca, he told me about how he left a corporate app-developing world to build something he wanted to use. "To build a better mail," he'd say. Each day Leca and friend / colleague Dinh Viet Hoa set out to build an email app they'd...
Web & Social
Sources: Google's Sparrow purchase cost under $25 million, will bring 'beauty' to Gmail
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...
Google buys Sparrow, current apps will not get any new features
Third-party email app maker Sparrow just announced that it's been purchased by Google. This morning, Dom Leca posted on the Sparrow blog that the company has been acquired by Google, and that they're joining the Gmail team to "accomplish a bigger vision." While Google has purchased desktop apps before (Bumptop), the Sparrow acquisition is one of the higher profile purchases.
The Gmail experience on iOS has been troubled with a rough launch, a limited feature set weaker than its Android...
