Why the Google Acquisition of Sparrow Really Bothers Me

Earlier today Sparrow announced it was acquired by Google to join the Gmail team. This particular announcement really bothered me from the beginning because of what it means to Sparrow users, which includes me, an everyday Sparrow user.

Those that use Sparrow do it because Apple's mail clients for the iPhone and Mac are not the best solutions, specifically if they use Gmail accounts. Some Gmail features like star and labels are not supported.

After today, Sparrow will continue to get updates whenever necesarry, but it won't get new features. This also means that we won't see Sparrow for the iPad.

But it is more troublesome than just that. As users won't get new features, choices for third-party email clients get more limited. In reality is Apple's iOS and Mac client the real alternative if Sparrow's features grow old.

Remember that Sparrow is not only a Gmail client, it also supports @me.com accounts, one of the few that does.

In a sense is a great move by Google that failed to create a Gmail app for iOS that can really work. And on Sparrow's side, it is a great move as they work hard to get where they are, and of course getting paid.

Congrats to the Sparrow team, let's see what happens in the near future.