Facebook nabs interactive digital book publisher Push Pop Press

By Jeff Hughes August 2, 2011

On Tuesday Facebook announced their new acquisition of Push Pop Press, a San Francisco-based startup that publishes digital books. The startup’s specialty is interactive, movie-like books for the iPad and iPhone. The financial details and the purpose behind the purchase are as yet unconfirmed.

Co-founded by former Apple employees Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, Push Pop came out of stealth mode in early 2011 and as they put it “set off to re-imagine the book”. They’re best known for creating Al Gore’s Global warming e-book Our Choice for the iPad, an app that garnered great press and won an award from Apple.

Related Videos

The company wrote in a press release on their website that the Al Gore e-book will still be available for purchase and that the proceeds will be donated to The Climate Reality Project. Aside from that exception, the Push Pop gates will be closed to any further publishing.

The question is: why did Facebook buy a startup that publishes digital books? In the same Push Pop statement, Tsinteris and Matas put to rest any thoughts that Facebook would be moving into the Google and Amazon dominated publishing territory.

“We’re taking our publishing technology and everything we’ve learned and are setting off to help design the world’s largest book, Facebook,” Wrote the co-founders. “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”

The main theory behind the purchase is Facebook simply talent hunting. GigaOM believes that Facebook is looking to add the talented Push Pop engineers to the HTML5 team. Most likely the San Francisco developers will be placed on the anticipated iPad app team, working with technology they’ve shown a high aptitude for.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Mobile

Facebook’s ‘Project Spartan’: A covert, web-based rival to Apple’s App Store

sparta-facebook-300

Just after its scoop about Facebook's "secret" new photo-sharing app for iPhone, TechCrunch is now reporting that the social networking giant plans to release an HTML5-based application platform, known internally as "Project Spartan," that would entirely circumvent the Apple App Store. The platform will reportedly run entirely through the iOS mobile Safari browser, rather than as a stand-alone app (which would require Apple's approval).
So, why would Facebook produce such an application? To maintain control of its product, of course.
"Facebook will never admit this, but those familiar with the project believe the intention is very clear: to use Apple’s own devices against them to break the stranglehold they have on mobile app distribution," writes TechCrunch's MG Seigler.
Facebook is about to hit a staggering 700 million users worldwide — more than enough of a fan base to create a viable rival to Apple's dominance in the mobile app sphere. Unfortunately, they still need Apple's iOS devices — iPhone, iPad, iPod touch — to reach users, which is why they've chosen to go the HTML5 route.
Project Spartan has reportedly been in development for at least a few months, and possibly much longer, says Seigler, who claims to have seen the new platform with his "own eyes." About 80 or more outside developers are said to be working to bring apps to Facebook's new online mobile marketplace. This includes some "familiar" names, like the Huffington Post and Zynga, maker of Farmville and other highly popular Facebook games.
The new app market will reportedly use Facebook Credits as the payment system, but with updated features that allow for in-app purchases.
News of this digital coup d'état follows Apple's recent announcement that rival social media platform Twitter will have the honor of being deeply integrated into the upcoming iOS 5 mobile operating system. Apple's choice of Twitter over Facebook has widely been seen as a snub of the social network.

Mobile

Princeton Review’s SAT Score Quest iPad app helps students prepare

priceton-review-sat-score-quest-ipad-app

One of the nation's top test preparation services, The Princeton Review, announced today the release of a new app for Apple's iPad tablet that students can use to help prepare them for the oh-so-important SAT.

Dubbed SAT Score Quest, the app "allows students to select their SAT score goals and take a short assessment designed to diagnose their relative strengths in the Critical Reading, Math and Writing sections of the SAT," says a press release about the app. To further guide the studying, the app prepares a "personalized score report," which shows students where they need the most work.

Mobile

Teaching reading to kids with interactive storybook apps

Teaching reading to kids with interactive storybook apps

Guest contributor Berna Erol is the founder of iPhoneAndKids.com, which hosts fun iPhone and iPad kids apps, as well as a wealth of tips for parents. Follow her on Twitter.

Not long ago, the Nintendo Gameboy was every child’s handheld gaming console of choice. Today, however, while devices like Gameboy remain popular, it seems there’s a new sheriff in town. By 2009, Apple released figures that the iPod Touch had sold over 37 million units, causing a new level of unforeseen competition for the typical handheld gaming console market. (more…)