Mikey Campbell
Apple has reportedly acquired creative consulting company Particle, a small San Francisco based collective of less than a dozen employees specializing in web applications and marketing using HTML5.
According to CNET, Apple finalized the purchase late last month, bringing over most of Particle's employees whose LinkedIn profiles now list their occupation as "creative technologists" and one as a "user interface engineer." It appears that the acquisition was more of a group hire than a move to secure IP, as has been the case in recent Apple purchases.
Founded in 2008 with the help of celebrity backer Justin Timberlake, Particle is a self-described "professional services business in creative concept work, visual and user experience design, and technical implementation."
From Particle's "About" page:
HTML5 and the WebKit rendering engine already drive the web experience on devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Android, but are increasingly becoming the lowest common denomination on the desktop web in next generation browsers like Google's Chrome, and Apple's Safari. Particle has chosen to focus on this technology so intensely because we believe it will soon be the rendering engine that powers a new universe of light weight and embedded applications from set top boxes to game consoles to Chrome OS and Android devices to portable telephony and media devices of all kinds.
As for the new hires, a number have worked with Yahoo and Google on design projects, and the firm's website notes that its founders worked closely with Apple, Disney, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Google, Yahoo!, through other design and consulting agencies. In specific, Particle Founder and Chief Technology Officer Aubrey Anderson consulted for Apple between 2006 and 2008.
It is not known how Apple will implement the new team, but the Cupertino company has recently been pushing hard for HTML5 solutions, as evidenced by its war against Flash-based software.
The details of the deal are scarce, including the price Apple paid for the consulting firm, and neither party has issued a statement regarding the matter.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
28 Comments
iWeb X!
Well, I guess iWeb 5 instead. Being, of course, the 4th version release.
From startup to acquired by Apple in 4 years? Impressive for a bunch of web developers.
The one thing I find difficult to understand is the constant comparison between Flash and HTML5.
HTML5 is a very flexible architecture but it is nothing like Flash, aside from the considerable similarities between ECMAScript and Actionscript.
One thing that still remains elusive in bringing HTML5 to the forefront is the lack of WYSIWYG editors. Sure there are a few, one notable one is Sencha, however no matter how you slice it, you need to be an absolute hand code expert to actually accomplish anything practical with HTML5.
Furthermore, in my experience, as the technology advances, the actual understanding of the code slips further and further from the people actually developing websites. The use of frameworks such as jQuery have obfuscated the actual functions to the point where they are almost completely beyond the understanding or the modifying of by web developer/designers.
To build an HTML5 site from scratch without the use of frameworks would cost ten times more than if you just repurposed a cookie cutter template but then of course you are unable to change anything for fear of breaking something you have no control over since it is all contained in a remotely downloaded js file.
Lastly, even though open standards should make things more accessible to average computer users, it does't really because you have to have a web server account, as any modern website cannot be run locally and almost always involves a server side scripting language such as php. Because you logically need to use include files for headers, menus, footers and often posting back to same file with conditional blocks of code, there is no such thing as WYSIWYG. The visual web designer does not have a chance in hell of actually building a modern site using HTML5, hence there will never be another iWeb.
The one thing I find difficult to understand is the constant comparison between Flash and HTML5. HTML5 is a very flexible architecture but it is nothing like Flash, aside from the considerable similarities between ECMAScript and Actionscript.
One thing that still remains elusive in bringing HTML5 to the forefront is the lack of WYSIWYG editors. Sure there are a few, one notable one is Sencha, however no matter how you slice it, you need to be an absolute hand code expert to actually accomplish anything practical with HTML5.
What's your take on Hype in these regards?
The visual web designer does not have a chance in hell of actually building a modern site using HTML5, hence there will never be another iWeb.
Given what you've said, I think the challenge is to take all this incomprehensible code and be able to let designers ignore it. I mean, look at the code for a site made in iWeb. It's insane, and it's pre-HTML5 stuff. And yet iWeb was able to bring more than rudimentary website creation to people who'd never heard of the DOM or so much as a div tag.
If anyone can make a WYSIWYG application that lets people manage HTML5 with that same ease, while still affording the raw power desired by 'from scratch' site creators, it's Apple.
More importantly, Google will not be able to use their services anymore ...