Apple Acquires Particle, A Celebrity-Backed Web App Firm

Apple has acquired another company, this time a creative consultancy firm that specializes in HTML5 and web app design, according to CNET. The firm, Particle, is a San Francisco-based company and there are no financial details of the deal available.
The company was founded in 2008 and is financially backed by Justin Timberlake, who is an investor and helped fund short social video service Robo.to, which was created by Particle. Particle’s selling price hasn’t been revealed, but CNET reports that the deal went through in September.
Particle has done HTML5 work for big names like Google, Motorola, Amazon, Yahoo, Sony, and Apple, and has created some “labs” projects like Intervue.me.
Particle was made up of less than a dozen employees, though not all stayed on to work at Apple. Those who did stay with Apple are listed as “creative technologies” and one “user interface engineer” on their public LinkedIn profiles. A number of Particle employees previously worked with Yahoo as part of its user experience and design group. Aubrey Anderson, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, also consulted for Apple between 2006 and 2008, according to his own LinkedIn profile.
So why did Apple buy Particle? According to CNET, Apple has put a lot of focus on HTML5 on its product pages, iAd advertising, and on iCloud.com, which is one of the only places Apple has true web applications.
Particle’s history with Apple shows how Apple might be hoping to use some of its team in the future:

“Particle brings positive and energetic relationships with Google and the Chrome team specifically, as well as great Apple relationships and execution experience around iAds, iTunes Extras, and Apple.com. We have participated in and piloted much of the technology which will display the next generation of advertising and deliver media content for the next decade.”