As first reported by TechCrunch editor-in-chief Matt Panzarino, Apple has acquired the iOS automation app Workflow and its entire team.
Workflow the app is being acquired, along with the team of Weinstein, Conrad Kramer and Nick Frey. In a somewhat uncommon move for Apple, the app will continue to be made available on the App Store and will be made free later today.
Panzarino makes some smart points in his article about Workflow's potential inside Apple: The app is one of the most innovative ways to chain multiple app activities together in iOS, and I use it every day to make my iPad a more effective work tool.
I'm relieved to see the app remain on the App Store for the time being, though this isn't a unique circumstance for acquisitions: The original Siri app stayed on the store for more than a year after its April 28 2010 acquisition, finally shutting down on October 14, 2011 — 10 days after Apple introduced Siri functionality into the iPhone operating system.
Could it be that Apple plans to introduce a version of Workflow — or better yet, use its technology — in future versions of iOS? As someone committed to the future of the company's touch operating system, I sure hope so.
We'll have more on the deal later, but in the meantime, I do highly encourage reading Matt Panzarino's full take on the subject.
