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Facebook burns a little cash, buys group messaging and digital book outfit
Facebook gone and done some serious damage to the company credit card, but thankfully, it's being used for more than replacing chimneys and repairing pool liners. Zuck's prized possession has just snapped up Push Pop Press and Beluga, with the former being best known for creating interactive digital books, most notably gadget junkie Al Gore's "Our Choice" book for iPad. Beluga on the other hand, gained lots of attention for its group messaging app built for iOS and Android. Push Pop Press co-founders (and former Apple engineers) Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris were quick to say that Facebook has no plans to publish digital books; they did confirm, however, that "the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories." Mysterious. Could the Push Press Pop acquisition be the key to the fantasmical iPad app we've yearned for since the dawn of the new millennium? Beluga confirmed the future of Facebook mobile messaging when it said, "we're excited to build our vision for mobile group messaging as part of the Facebook team." Equally mysterious. Unfortunately, no concrete details are being made available, with each site's homepage simply confirming that It's Complicated.
Facebook acquires iOS publishing platform Push Pop Press
Push Pop Press, the digital publisher that has the backing of former U.S. vice president Al Gore, announced through its website that it was acquired by Facebook. The company received a lot of press earlier this year with the release of Gore's Our Choice, which subsequently won an Apple Design Award. Push Pop Press states that while Facebook isn't moving into the digital publishing realm, its technology will be integrated with Facebook services. Our Choice will remain available on the App Store with further proceeds being donated to The Climate Reality Project. While deal isn't a surprise, it creates a huge missed opportunity for Apple. Our Choice was one of those innovative apps that showed off the absolute best of the iPad, and while MacStories theorizes that Push Pop Press' systems might be a good fit for Facebook apps, Push Pop Press was just brushing the surface of what it could accomplish on its own. It's quite a difference from dealing with climate change to handling the teeming Farmville masses. If anything, I would have loved to see Apple acquire Push Pop Press and use it as basis for its own in-house publisher (akin to Amazon's publishing programs such as Kindle Singles) -- to help authors create and publish interactive books for both the App Store and iBooks.
Making your own iPad magazine
A lot of publications are adding iPads and other portable devices to their distribution chains. As a result, we're beginning to see some solutions for small- and medium-sized companies that are starting to approach the idea of offering a self-publishing solution. You can always send people a PDF, but that's really not a magazine, and it won't show up in the App Store. One interesting product is from some former Apple employees who have started MagAppZine. You submit a PDF, and the company quickly converts it to a magazine and submits it to the App Store for you. You can see some customer examples in the App Store here. Using MagAppZine is not inexpensive, but it's far cheaper than hiring a programmer and managing an App Store submission. Costs are about US$3000 for a magazine, plus charges each time you add a new issue. You get to keep 75% of the revenue if your magazine is a paid creation, MagAppZine gets 25%. That's after the Apple's 30% cut. Naturally, MagAppZine can't guarantee that your app won't get rejected from the App Store, so customers need to understand Apple's rules on content.
