Oracle and Appforge
I just learnt that Oracle have acquired the intellectual property of AppForge.
"Oracle has acquired the intellectual property assets of AppForge, a company formerly based in Atlanta with a mobile application development and mobile applications platform. Oracle has also hired several former employees of AppForge."
Sadly for existing customers…
"Please note that Oracle’s acquisition of AppForge’s intellectual property did not include the purchase of the company as a whole, or the purchase of other AppForge assets including its customer contracts. Accordingly, Oracle does not plan to sell or provide support for former AppForge products going forward."
There’s lots more (and some unhappy ex-customers) on the RadioFreeTooting blog.
While I feel for the victims, there is something to learn here. When I have worked for large companies they have tended to do ‘due diligence’ when taking up critical business services or products from small or new companies. This involves assessing how likely they are to stay in business and putting in place contingencies (e.g. source code in escrow, finding alternatives) should anything go wrong.
Clearly Oracle has no interest in continuing to sell Appforge as an mobile application generator. Instead, I assume it will use Appforge to create Oracle applications for Oracle customers.
As Oracle saw enough value in buying AppForge (and some of its employees) for it’s own use I can’t help but wonder how many other companies could have benefited from this technology. I believe Symbian, UIQ and Nokia took their eye off the ball on this one.
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