Mountain View, California — Barely a week ago Google acquired social search engine Aardvark, and today, the Mountain View-based company once again makes headlines with yet another acquisition. This time the global search leader has acquired e-mail startup “reMail,” which is responsible for developing a powerful email search application for the iPhone.
reMail, which created an iPhone app that Google will be discontinuing, provided comprehensive email search for email and IMAP accounts even in offline mode. Google currently does not offer a Gmail app on the iPhone platform, preferring its stylish HTML 5 web app experience.
Cselle spent time as the VP of Engineering at e-mail startup Xobni, and also worked with the Gmail team. He then created his own establishment last year. According to Cselle himself, he once again will be “joining Google in Mountain View as a Product Manager on the Gmail team.”
Cselle writes:
“Gmail is where my obsession with email started as an engineering intern back in 2004, and I’m thrilled to be coming back to a place with so many familiar faces. reMail’s goal was re-establishing mobile email, and I’m proud we have built a product that so many users find useful. Still, I feel like we have only seen the beginning of what is possible. Google is the best place in the world to improve the status quo on how people communicate and share information. If you have what it takes to make these changes happen, I encourage you to reach out and come join me.”
No word on how much Google is paying for the company. The San Francisco based startup was developed by Y Combinator and raised funding from Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh, who worked on Gmail and co-founded the newly-acquired FriendFeed. Cselle declined to comment further on the acquisition or its price.
Cselle said current reMail users can continue to use the app though support will be discontinued at the end of March. Taking out an existing iPhone app is particularly notable given Google has its own competing mobile platform, Android.
We can expect Google to incorporate all reMail’s technologies into Gmail. Google has yet to publicly announced the acquisition.