Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#1

Post by tlrobinson » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 5:22 PM UTC

Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook
pushpoppress.com

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#2

Post by ivanzhao » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 5:36 PM UTC

Is it a pure talent acquisition? As Push Pop Press's core business (coffee table iPad books) is so distant from Facebook's. Maybe they want to do something Flipboard-ish?

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#3

Post by tlrobinson » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 5:50 PM UTC

ivanzhao wrote: post #2

Is it a pure talent acquisition? As Push Pop Press's core business (coffee table iPad books) is so distant from Facebook's. Maybe they want to do something Flipboard-ish?

Sounds like mostly talent:

"Although Facebook isn't planning to start publishing digital books, the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories. With millions of people publishing to Facebook each day, we think it's going to be a great home for Push Pop Press."

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#4

Post by pumblechook » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 5:55 PM UTC

Sad to see. This was the only promising execution of ebooks for the tablet age, and Facebook is where it goes to die? I know they probably got obscene amounts of cash, but it is still disheartening to see innovations swallowed up by decidedly non-innovative companies.

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#5

Post by americandesi333 » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 6:05 PM UTC

I wonder how Mike Matas would feel after a year of being at Facebook...

When I first read about them and heard his TED talk, I really believed in what he was saying, that they aspired to change the way the world reads. I believed in his revolution...

So, this is definitely a let down...

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#6

Post by flyosity » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 6:06 PM UTC

Facebook is up to something really big.

Awhile ago they brought on Brandon Walkin (http://www.brandonwalkin.com/blog/) who is, arguably, one of the most detailed-oriented user interface designers on the planet. He's also a very talented Cocoa developer and apps that he's worked on have won Apple Design Awards.

Next, they acquired Sofa, another Apple Design Award-winning design & software firm who have created some of the best-looking apps for OS X.

Now they nabbed Push Pop Press, founded by Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, who were both instrumental to the launch of the iPhone on the software side.

Facebook is building an army of UI designers/developers who 1) used to work at Apple, or 2) have built apps Apple has deemed best-in-class.

I'd be really surprised if Facebook isn't working on something big to go up against Apple and Google. There were rumors of a Facebook phone, perhaps Facebook is building their own hardware and need a world-class design team to craft its OS? I can't see Facebook sticking all this amazing talent on a redesign of Photos or Chat, or updating icons in Facebook's iPhone app.

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#7

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 6:06 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#8

Post by bradleyland » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 6:10 PM UTC

tlrobinson wrote: post #3

ivanzhao wrote: post #2

Is it a pure talent acquisition? As Push Pop Press's core business (coffee table iPad books) is so distant from Facebook's. Maybe they want to do something Flipboard-ish?

Sounds like mostly talent: "Although Facebook isn't planning to start publishing digital books, the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories. With millions of people publishing to Facebook each day, we think it's going to be a great home for Push Pop Press."

It's kind of hard to deny the parallels between Flipboard and tech like what Push Pop Press has developed. I know a number of people for whom Flipboard is the preferred method of interacting with Facebook. I'd assume that Facebook has some means of knowing which applications are using their API the most. Maybe there's some underlying data here that we can't see, like maybe Flipboard makes up a lot of Facebook's mobile usage, and we know how important it is for Facebook to control the user interaction.

/rampant speculation

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#9

Post by A-K » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 6:10 PM UTC

ivanzhao wrote: post #2

Is it a pure talent acquisition? As Push Pop Press's core business (coffee table iPad books) is so distant from Facebook's. Maybe they want to do something Flipboard-ish?

I guess this must be a talent grab. I haven't seen a more fluid, well-oiled app than Our Choice. The real question is, if Facebook's supposed iPad app is already close to launch, what's with the timing behind this?

Re: Push Pop Press acquired by Facebook

#10

Post by hv23 » Tue, Aug 02, 2011, 6:20 PM UTC

flyosity wrote: post #6

Facebook is up to something really big. Awhile ago they brought on Brandon Walkin ( http://www.brandonwalkin.com/blog/ ) who is, arguably, one of the most detailed-oriented user interface designers on the planet. He's also a very talented Cocoa developer and apps that he's worked on have won Apple Design Awards. Next, they acquired Sofa, another Apple Design Award-winning design & software firm who have created some…

+1, there's definitely an interesting pattern of Facebook acquiring top Apple-related design talent.

TechCrunch has a series of posts on "Project Spartan", a high-priority project within Facebook where they're rumored to be making a new massive mobile distribution platform based on HTML5 (http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/facebook-project-spartan/). Maybe related?

//end rampant speculation