The Mac development house Acrylic has announced that they have been acqui-hired by Facebook. Acrylic’s Dustin Macdonald shared a statement on the company’s blog.
Acrylic makes popular iOS and Mac software like the news reader Pulp and the secure database app Wallet. Acrylic says that Pulp and Wallet have not themselves been acquired by Facebook, but there are no plans to keep developing them.
Both apps will remain available for purchase in the future, but it looks like they won’t be getting any major updates.
MacDonald on the acquisition by Facebook:
For the past four years, we’ve worked tirelessly on creating truly awesome products with a focus on innovation and great design, and I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish during that time. Our flagship apps, Wallet and Pulp, have been used and loved by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Building these products has been a fun and exciting ride, but the time has come to move on to newer and bigger challenges.
Facebook is an invaluable service that we all use daily, and a company I believe is one of the most innovative and important around today. After visiting late last year, I discovered that we shared many of the same core product design goals and principles, and it soon became obvious that it was a natural fit. Simply put, there’s an opportunity at Facebook to have a big impact in many people’s lives. More importantly, Facebook is full of extremely talented people who will be able to help realize its full potential in the years to come.
Facebook has been on a tear, acquiring the talent behind several mobile-centric firms lately, including the ‘watch later’ service Spool. In the past year or so, Facebook has acquired the staff of software firm Sofa, whose apps went to Black Pixel, as well as the folks behind Push Pop Press, Face.com, Karma, Snaptu and Lightbox. Most of these were products or firms that had a mobile component. This attention to snagging mobile talent and cachet is exemplified, of course, in its biggest recent acquisition: Instagram.
Image Credit: Hydra Arts
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