New York — In a novel twist of events, struggling web pioneer AOL has just announced that it has acquired a cool iOS and Android photo-sharing app called Hipster and its namesake company for ‘low seven figures,’ according to TechCrunch.
For those who are not familiar, Hipster is an iOS app which lets you send “digital postcards” via your phone. Launched in 2011, its applications and website allow more that 100,000 users to create their personal digital postcards from photos taken on iPhone and Android devices, containing location data, that can be shared with your friends and family.
“We will be spending part of our time on Hipster and part of our time on other AOL projects like Patch and Play,” Hipster CEO Doug Ludlow, said in a statement.
On the other hand, the year-old company raised ample interest before launching their app–which allows users to create and upload photo postcards to share around the world–by recruiting engineers with an offer of $10,000 cash and a year’s supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, a known favorite in the “hipster” community. The app is mobile only and is not available online as yet.
Apart from that, this is a perfect symbol of AOL’s approach to create a entirely new brand identity. We are not talking about just adding new products and services. We are talking about AOL aspiring to basically get rid of everything customers know about it and essentially build a new company from the ground up.
Moving forward with the acquisition, the five member Hipster team, including Ludlow, will join the AOL group under mobile director Sol Lipman. Ludlow said that during the next few weeks, thanks to AOL’s help, the team will release a new version of its iOS app, some updates to its Android app, and “significant tweaks” to the website.
“We are excited to be part of AOL because it will give us new resources,” Ludlow said. “This will give us more breathing room and access to some very smart people.”
This is just the latest of AOL’s purchases made in an attempt to branch out in the media world. A new company, that is, that fits in with the modern tech environment and can play in the mobile world.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ludlow said “guesses and tweets around the web have all been wrong so far.”