Sam Soffes

I'm really bummed today. Acrylic Apps got acquired by Facebook. Sparrow got acquired by Google.

This is what I want to know: What is Facebook doing with all of these acquisitions? I can tell you. Nothing. They haven't shipped anything that works well or looks great in awhile. Their camera iOS app wasn't bad, but from the talent they've acquired, it should be embarrassing.

I mean, Facebook is the worst iOS app on my phone. How many engineers and designers does it take to make a great app in a year? I think it's a really small team and a few months. I think part of the reason nothing is happening is there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

Sofa is one of my favorite design companies. They put out amazing products and did amazing work. Since joining Facebook in 2011, I haven't seen anything come out even remotely that quality. The Gowalla team (by the way, gowalla.com doesn't go anywhere. sadface) made great stuff. All of it is way better than the current Facebook stuff.

Don't even get me started on Google. Google doesn't have anything that looks really good. They've hired tons of great people, but overall, all of the Google products lack excellence (especially in design).

I'm just really disappointed. I wish things at these tech giants would drastically improve as their talent pool grew. We've seen over and over, and this is not the case. It makes me sad.