Appcelerator is one of the leading Enterprise-class MADP (Mobile Application Development Platform) vendors with household-name customers like Farmers Insurance, T-Mobile and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Appcelerator cultivated a vibrant developer community and expanded its platform offerings, forming partnerships with other category leaders like SOASTA and Crittercism in addition to some tuck-in acquisitions. Though they had raised almost $90M, rumors were cash flow was a challenge. Taken together with the consolidation going on in the mobile space, to those familiar with Appcelerator the question was always “when” not “if” Appcelerator would be acquired.
After months of rumors of a takeover by a larger, well-known company (Microsoft was rumored to be a suitor for both Appcelerator and Xamarin), Appcelerator was officially sold on Monday to a company you likely never heard of.
So now that the deal is done, what should we make of the news? And more specifically, what should you do as a result? Let’s explore.
Who are these Axway guys anyway?
The good news is that Axway is a publicly traded ~$300M company providing “solutions that help manage business-critical interactions through the exchange of data flowing across the enterprise.” Their clients include large, well-known companies such as BMW, P&G, ING and AstraZeneca, which bodes well. Axway seems to know how to sell into the enterprise (never a great strength of Appcelerator) so potentially they’ll make more hay with the AppC Platform than the founders were able to. That’s a very positive sign.
Further, Axway is part of the much larger Paris-based IT services company, the Sopra Steria Group, with 3.4 billion and 37,000 employees across 20 countries.
So from a financial stability perspective this is a big win for those who’ve made commitments to the Appcelerator platform.
How should I react?
There are 2 ways to respond to big news like this. You can channel your inner Chip Diller and freak out or listen to Aaron Rodgers’ advice and R-E-L-A-X.
We say listen to Rodgers. Here’s why:
Our main concerns would be that the partnerships supporting key tentpoles of the AppC platform (SOASTA and Crittercism) cease to exist a year from now. But since no Axway solutions fill those gaps it’s probably an unjustified concern.
Additional causes for worry:
The following is feedback we’ve received from clients (which has been very positive):
Chance favors the prepared mind
But this doesn’t mean you should sit back and hope for the best. There’s always uncertainty with any acquisition and things don’t always happen in a way that makes sense. In addition, their FAQ’s afford them a fair amount of wiggle room for the future.
So what should you do?
What’s Your POV?
What are your thoughts on the deal? Send me a note or hit me up on Twitter. I’d love to hear from you. Oh yeah, and if you liked this post, please share it (via the icons at left)!
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