The founder of Poster gets acqu-hired by Automattic as the minimal blogging iOS app is taken down

Automattic has acqu-hired the founder of Poster for iOS, a mobile app that allows bloggers to post to WordPress from their mobile device. The app’s creator Tom Witkin is joining the organization’s mobile design team where he says he’ll be both “designing and coding”.

As a result of this deal, Poster for iOS is no longer available for purchase. Witkin, in a blog post announcing the move, says that this applies to new users. If you are a current user, you will “always be able to re-download it” and the app will continue to be supported.

Witkin is excited about his move to Automattic:

I get to keep doing what I love: creating apps and experiences that enable and delight. The only difference is that I get new opportunities to continue to learn and develop personally and now get to work with some amazing people. I truly believe that something great will come from devoting my time and attention to Automattic.

Poster for iOS was billed as being a “simply beautiful way to blog.” It supported multiple languages, WordPress support, create custom post types, and posting through Dropbox, ability to open text and HTML from within other apps, and much more.

Naturally, as the proliferation of phone and tablet devices increases, people will want to post their thoughts while on the go. Automattic’s WordPress platform does have an iOS app, but with the integration of Poster, perhaps the design will be improved and many of its integrations and features could be incorporated.

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Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

We’ve reached out to Automattic for comment and will update this if we hear back.

Update: We’ve received a statement from Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg: “We have acquired the Poster app and its technology, and we’re excited to have Tom contributing to the Automattic mobile team. WordPress on mobile is growing rapidly and so is our investment in it.”

Photo credit: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images