Google buys popular iOS and Mac email client Sparrow

posted by Scott H. / Jul 20, 2012, 3:50 PM

Google buys popular iOS and Mac email client Sparrow

Sparrow CEO Dom Leca announced today on the company’s blog that they were acquired by Google. If you use a Windows PC and an Android (or WP7) phone, right about now, you’re probably asking, “Who??”. If you’re a Mac and/or iOS user however, you may be doing your best to stem the sobbing. Sparrow’s 3rd party email clients and apps are very popular on Apple’s platforms, and were widely considered to be among the best email UIs available.

Sparrow will continue to be made available for the time being, and current customers will still be given support, but Leca indicated that there will be no new features added to the software from here on out. The good news (for everyone) is that this was a talent acquisition by Google, and Leca and his team will be joining Google’s Gmail team to create more elegant and effective email UIs for Gmail, and to better tie together the Gmail experience across all of its many platforms.

According to sources speaking to The Verge, Google dropped somewhere south of $25 million to buy Sparrow, and the deals include relocating the Paris-based team to Mountain View for full integration into the Gmail team. Their sources also indicate that Google was explicit about recognizing the excellence of the design and UI work done by Sparrow, so it looks like they are coming to add some of that same magic into Gmail, rather than the simple elimination of a competitor.

While this will probably be bittersweet for Sparrow’s current users, the idea of bringing their innovation to the entire Gmail user base should mean many more years of innovative webmail development from El Goog.

source: Sparrow via The Verge

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21 Comments

1. thebest

Posts: 231; Member since: Jul 08, 2012

lolzzz google is the next microsoft, they have started acquiring other companies for high prices, just like microsoft.....

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 3:59 PM 3

2. whothisperson

Posts: 102; Member since: May 06, 2012

Alot of companies do this, nothing new or wrong.

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 4:04 PM 16

7. Wiki_jaan

Posts: 704; Member since: Jun 24, 2012

they r removing competitors....

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 5:47 PM 5

3. roscuthiii

Posts: 2383; Member since: Jul 18, 2010

Uh, yeah. Most companies either wish to be successful, or... to be bought out by one that is. Funny thing about businesses; They're all trying to make money. Go figure. It's virtually impossible to expect that any given company is going to have all the best talent in any given field, but they do want them so they have these things called "acquisitions".

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 4:10 PM 6

13. thebest

did i say that acquisition is a bad thing?........does a comparison with microsoft make google so bad?

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 12:33 AM 0

21. roscuthiii

No, it does not necessarily make it a bad thing at all. Just trying to help out since you were lolzzz'ing about it though.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 11:39 AM 0

4. Muhannad

Posts: 455; Member since: Sep 20, 2011

I don't see what's wrong with that if it can improve their already existing services then it's better for us.

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 4:21 PM 2

10. thebest

i never said that google is wrong, i just said that it is becoming the new microsoft......they are buying as many companies as possible, which is a shortcut to success, but its very risky, microsoft has suffered $6.5 billion loss in the process....

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 11:02 PM 0

12. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

Per the Verge, Sparrow was acquired by Google for less than $25 million, and Google was the only bidder.... It would appear they ran out of $ and Google was the only realistic option. That doesn't sound like the MS model.

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 11:30 PM 2

16. thebest

this is just one of the series of acquisitions, don't forget motorola......they bought it for 12.5 billions

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:23 AM 0

14. HTCFreak

Posts: 156; Member since: Jul 17, 2010

under 25 million dollars, yeah, reaallly expensive --' Google has a lot of money and this was just a small cost for them.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 7:39 AM 0

18. thebest

ms has more money than google, google has spent more than ms on acquisitions lately,just to face apple

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:55 AM 0

5. Azure01

Posts: 127; Member since: Aug 16, 2011

Kinda sucks for us mac and iPhone users who like hearing that sound and knowing it could only come from iOS. Selfish yet true.

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 4:28 PM 5

6. HTCFreak

Google takes good care of iOS users :) They also know that most of the iOS users still love google :D

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 5:15 PM 6

8. Aeires unregistered

I read some comments on a Mac site about this purchase, you'd think it was the end of the world. If Google didn't make Android, this would be a non-issue.

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 6:30 PM 5

15. sithman

Posts: 299; Member since: Apr 21, 2012

Google also knows that iOS is very valuable to its business, just like apple knows how valuable google is to its business. Neither one is dumb enough to sever those life lines.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 8:12 AM 1

19. thebest

apple is trying to kick google out of apple products by fining them, by replacing google maps app, but google is not ready to leave apple, they have made google chrome for ios and they have acquired this company now......80% of google's mobile revenue comes from apple, everyone wants to work for the valuable(usually richer) apple users.....apple users are usually richer because apple products are usually more expensive and they won't hesitate to pay more money for apps while(many,not all) android users won't spend much...i use apple products with a lot of google apps(i don't spend money on apps either), so u can't say that i love apple and i hate google,the advantage of buying an apple product is that even google shows love and interest in it......on the other hand if u get an android phone, google won't get any support from apple, infact, they will try to attack it in every possible way

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 11:00 AM 0

9. networkdood

Posts: 6330; Member since: Mar 31, 2010

Sometimes buying another company is good...Google bought Android, bought Moto, and now this....it's all good, foooool

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 9:42 PM 3

11. E.N.

Posts: 2610; Member since: Jan 25, 2009

Maybe now they'll update their atrocious stock email client....

posted on Jul 20, 2012, 11:10 PM 2

17. TarunV

Posts: 28; Member since: Jul 21, 2012

Oh God.... Why?? It was my favorite app on my iPhone (I know m gonna get a lot of thumbs down for just using an iPhone, but still, freedom of speech....) Anyways, Google gonna cut the support for iOS now, like they did by never updating Google Maps :'-( Please guys at Sparrow, keep the support,,, and please... don't change the default theme colors.... PLEASE...