Sparrow Flies Away, Google Pulls iOS/Mac Email Apps from App Stores

techcrunch.com

2 points·uptown··4 comments

I guess it's better than the alternative of having it rot in the app store, but this news makes me hesitant to ever buy another startup's popular app.

I hate the fact that I had found a great app/system, set it all up throughout my machines only to have it exit.

I know this opinion won't be popular here but to me this eventual result should be expected as the norm for basically all VC funded startups.

VC's fund startups for a financial gain - they get that financial gain when a startup is acquired, which usually involves a much larger, established company. Being bought out is considered "winning" and is the ultimate goal for VC funded startups.

The type of companies that can afford to buy out VC funded startups are generally not going to be buying to continue business-as-usual. The whole reason for VC funding is often that the business (model) can't be profitable on its own, and thus must change somehow to become a worthwhile part of the buying business.

I'd suggest that Microsoft appears to be doing the opposite lately, as evidenced by Acompli and likely Sunrise. But I agree this is generally the case.

Agreed, Microsoft's approach with Acompli has been different, but that's also a fairly unique situation where Acompli only existed because of a lack of a dedicated client targeted at Exchange customers - it may be that the purchase was as much about appearances (i.e. not reliant on a 3rd party for mobile) as anything else.

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