Apple buys mobile test, ads and analytics tool player Burstly

22 Feb 2014

Apple has confirmed its acquisition of Burstly, owners of the popular TestFlight beta testing platform, the FlightPath mobile analytics tool and the SkyRocket in-app ad management tool.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” the company stated to Re/Code.

According to TechCrunch, which broke the story, the first rumblings that something was up emerged Wednesday when TestFlight announced plans to end Android support on 21 March.

Burstly acquired TestFlight in 2012. Before that it raised US$7.3m in Series Aventure capital from investors including Upfront Ventures, Rincon Venture Partners and Softbank Capital.

The acquisition of Burstly by Apple could significantly strengthen Apple’s iAd platform as well as afford it significant talent capital.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com