Facebook Buys Acrylic Software, A Gorgeous Mac And iOS App Maker

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Acrylic Software makes Pulp, a gorgeous Mac and iPad news app.
Acrylic Software makes Pulp, a gorgeous Mac and iPad news app.

Following Google’s acquisition of Sparrow earlier today, Acrylic Software has announced that it has been bought by Facebook. Acrylic makes a Mac/iPad RSS reader app called Pulp and Mac/iPhone app called Wallet. As a development firm known for its top notch design work and attention to detail, the Acrylic team will be joining Facebook’s design team.

Future development of Pulp and Wallet has stopped, but Acrylic will continue to support its users and keep its apps available for download.

Dustin MacDonald of Acrylic Software:

I’m happy to announce today that we’ve packed up our small Vancouver studio and will be making the move to San Francisco in the coming weeks to join the design team at 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.

Our products and services have not been acquired by Facebook, and while there are no plans for further development on them, Wallet and Pulp will continue to remain available for download and purchase in their current form. We’ll certainly be the first to let you know of any updates or changes here in the future.

A special thanks to all of our customers and supporters who have helped us grow and build the best products possible throughout the last four years. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.

Facebook is allegedly working to give its flagship iPhone app a complete revamp under the hood. The app will be much faster than the current version, and it’s rumored that Facebook will release the new version this summer. Another rumor said that Facebook is hiring former Apple engineers to work on a new smartphone.

It’s unclear if the Acrylic team will be working on future designs of Facebook’s iOS apps, but given the kind of work Acrylic is known for, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

While Facebook has been snatching up smaller startups and mobile development firms left and right, its most notable purchase to date is the $2 billion acquisition of Instagram that has yet to be approved by the FTC.

Source: Acrylic Blog

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