Facebook has acquired Push Pop Press, a San Francisco-based digital publishing platform startup purportedly aimed at “redefining the way we publish and experience books.” Terms of the deal have not been released.
Push Pop Press was co-founded by Kimon Tsinteris and Mike Matas, both of whom used to work at Apple. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber wrote a detailed overview of the company’s technology when the company came out of stealth mode in February 2011, and was unabashed in his enthusiasm: “I got a hands-on demo (from Matas) of what they’re working on. It’s amazing.”
Facebook’s acquisition of Push Pop Press does not mean the social networking company is planning to get into book publishing. It mostly appears to be a talent acquisition, possibly aimed at building out its forthcoming iPad app and strengthening its HTML5 development team. From Push Pop Press’ blog post announcing the deal:
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.
To date, Push Pop Press has been best known for developing Al Gore’s e-book on global warming for the iPad, titled “Our Choice.” That book will continue to be available for purchase, but Push Pop Press says it will not continue to publish new titles going forward.
I’ve reached out to Facebook for comment on the deal, and will update this post with any new information I receive.
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