Facebook buys digital book firm Push Pop Press

Facebook has bought Push Pop Press, the digital book company formed by former Apple staff. 

 

 

In a statement on its website, Push Pop Press said: “We’re taking our publishing technology and everything we’ve learned and are setting off to help design the world’s largest book, Facebook.”

Push Pop Press drew attention earlier this year with the release of Our Choice, an iPad version of a book by Al Gore. The app took the text of Gore’s book, which was first published in 2009, and added interactive graphics, animation and more than an hour of video.

At the time Push Pop Press said the app would “change the way we read books”. In its statement on the Facebook acquisition the company said “Facebook isn’t planning to start publishing digital books”.

It is thought that Facebook has bought Push Pop Press for its design expertise. The company was founded by two former Apple engineers, Kimon Tsinteris and Mike Matas. Tsinteris worked on mapping and location services for Apple, while Matas is a user interface specialist.

Matas is credited with designing at least four of Apple’s default iPhone apps, including the Photos app. He also designed Photo Booth for the Mac.