Report: Apple Is Acquiring Burstly, The Company Behind TestFlight
by Brent Dirks
February 21, 2014
Burstly, the owner of popular app testing platform TestFlight, has been acquired by Apple. That’s according to a new report from TechCrunch.
TechCrunch says a trio of interesting moves by TestFlight help support the acquisition theory. The company announced earlier this week that it would be ending support for the Android platform in March and also discontinuing its TestFlight SDK.
FlightPath, a mobile analytics solution introduced last year, is also shutting down.
And TestFlight has been keeping any news close to vest, according to the report:
Odder still is how these product announcements – which greatly impact the company’s mobile developer user base – have been handled so far. There’s been no mention of them on the TestFlight changelog, for example, no company blog post, no emails, and no mention of them on social media channels – that is, unless you count the replies to confused developers from @testflightapp, the company’s main Twitter account. Developers are being asked to reach out directly to the company via an email form instead of being given a more useful public reply.While many iOS users probably haven’t heard of TestFlight, it is a major help for developers. Before officially releasing their apps in the App Store, developers can use the distribution service to beta test and fine tune any lingering issues. Apple has been focusing on making the testing process easier for developers. Back in November, the number of promo codes that can be given away for each app was doubled to 100. It will definitely be interesting to see how Apple integrates the TestFlight technology into its own ecosystem. We’ll let you know if the acquisition is officially confirmed by either party.
