Appcelerator,
maker of an integrated mobile platform for rapidly developing native
and mobile Web applications using open Web technologies, today
announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Particle Code.
Particle Code offers a mobile gaming and HTML5
development platform. And this acquisition enables Appcelerator to
expand its platform used by over 1.6 million developers to become one
that offers an integrated native, hybrid, and HTML5 Web application
solution. The HTML5 mobile Web offering will be rolled out in the first
half of 2012, the company said.
Appcelerator officials said the move accelerates
Appcelerator’s position as a leading cross-platform development
framework, now able to offer both Web and native app development from a
singular code base to developers in every app category. The Particle
Code team has joined Appcelerator’s iOS, Android, and HTML5 core
platform group in Mountain View, Calif. The acquisition is the second
this year for Appcelerator following its acquisition of Aptana in
January.
Moreover, the Particle Code acquisition allows
Appcelerator to speed up the build out of its open source flagship
platform, Appcelerator Titanium, beyond native iOS and Android mobile
applications and into HTML5 mobile Web and gaming, the company said.
This provides a path for developers concerned about increasing
fragmentation in the market between Adobe’s Flash, native development
and a variety of HTML5 frameworks. By enabling both Web and native
mobile application development from one singular codebase, Appcelerator
allows developers to bridge the divide and create a platform-agnostic
mobile strategy that will be optimized on every device and evolve with
the ecosystem moving forward, regardless of how the platform wars shake
out.
“The Particle Code acquisition is a big win for
mobile developers across the board,” said Jeff Haynie, CEO of
Appcelerator, in a statement. “As fragmentation among proprietary
mobile vendors increases, Appcelerator offers an open source,
integrated mobile platform as a better approach for unifying
cross-platform native and HTML5 mobile Web development.”
“Game and rich media developers are notoriously
picky about performance, demanding that apps deliver a first-class
experience on every device,” added Galia Benartzi, Particle Code’s CEO,
also in a statement. “We’re excited to bring these technical
capabilities to Appcelerator and help Titanium go for the win in this
disruptive space,”
Meanwhile, as the race for mobile engineering
talent continues heating up in Silicon Valley, the Particle Code
acquisition is also notable for adding a dozen high-caliber developers
to Appcelerator’s core platform team. The Particle Code team represents
over 100 combined engineering years in every mobile, smartphone and
desktop platform. Appcelerator now tops 100 employees, a five-fold
increase since closing its last funding round a year ago.
Appcelerator is also staking a claim in the
cross-platform solutions market. Titanium now powers 30,000
applications including NBC’s iPad app, which reached #1 on the Apple
App Store last month, GetGlue, the #2 social networking app, Hotel
Tonight, the #1 travel app, and Wunderlist the #1 productivity app.
Appcelerator’s other top brand customers include Kellogg’s, Zipcar,
ING, Merck, Medtronic, Michael’s Stores, Progressive, and GameStop
among 1,000 customers with production applications built on Titanium.
“Appcelerator's latest acquisition and its tremendous growth over
the past year underscore that it is one of the key start-ups to watch
given its increasingly central role in the mobile apps space,” said
Scott Ellison, an IDC analyst, in a statement.
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