Apple has acquired Prss, a Dutch company that lets users easily create magazines for iPad and iPhone by way of a simple drag-and-drop interface, for selling in Apple’s Newsstand and other services like Kiosk.
An inside source first reported the acquisition, before Apple confirmed it. Company co-founder Michel Elings recently moved to the Bay Area, alongside other members of the Prss team — indicating that a deal might have been made over the summer.
Prss’s service shut down in July, and has not been active since then.
It’s also not known what role the Prss team will play at Apple, although it’s suggested that the acquisition could be about the talent involved rather than the service. This has traditionally been Apple’s approach to acquisitions which — despite the company’s massive cash reserves — tend to be about technology and employees rather than buying market share with large purchases.
Speaking with TechCrunch, Apple gave its usual noncommittal comment that, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
It is highly possible that Apple plans to use some aspect of the Prss publishing platform to augment its iBooks Author service, to help make it simpler for Apple customers to publish iPad magazines.
Source: iCulture
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
