What was that moment like for you and your team? And then Apple came out with something called.Pencil. WIRED: So what’s interesting is that your app Paper was, from the beginning, considered to be an Apple darling. I don’t think we ever disclosed how many we sold. This was also the very unusual part: It was a profitable hardware program. WIRED: How many Pencils did you sell? Was it profitable for FiftyThree? So it wasn’t, ‘Can we build the product?’ but instead, ‘Are we building the right product?’ But in our case, many people at FiftyThree had reached levels in their careers where they were comfortable with it. So in a way, yes, hardware is hard and I absolutely wouldn’t do that if you didn’t have a great network and team. GP: Yes, hardware is hard but when you look at our founding hardware team.I mean John Ikeda was part of the development team that created the original Xbox 360 controller our head of engineering led engineering at Sonos our product manager who was running the program ran the supply chain for Sonos as well. So what was it that made you say, let’s make hardware? But at the same time hardware is really hard, especially in the startup world if you don’t have the supply chain or product management expertise. WIRED: What strikes me is that it sounds like you’re saying that transition to hardware was a pretty natural thing. That ended up leading to the development of Pencil. The next step for us then, which really started in 2012, was to think through the stylus as a tool. It really changed people’s perception of the iPad, but for us, it also put FiftyThree on the map. That lead to the Paper app, where you could take the ideas in your head and quickly translate them via your fingertips into ink strokes. When we looked at it, we clearly saw the iPad for creativity. Maybe it was going to be the next big video service. Maybe it was going to be the next-generation magazine, with publishers creating new magazine formats. 'it wasn’t until Cambridge Analytica that I would say consumers really started becoming more aware of what is happening when you use free software.'Īnd then when iPad launched, it wasn’t clear what iPad was going to be for. As for the future of FiftyThree’s suite of apps, including Paper, which has 25 million users, the company says the apps will live on with “increased investment and support.” FiftyThree’s executive team and product teams will stay on board for now. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but WeTransfer said it had acquired the company’s entire patent portfolio and all assets for its apps. Today FiftyThree announced its apps and team have been acquired by WeTransfer, a cloud-based file transfer company with headquarters in Amsterdam and Los Angeles. Its $60, soft-nibbed, walnut stylus, called Pencil, presaged Apple’s eventual entry into the world of stylii. Tech writers described it as “the next great iPad app”, “a superbly designed sketching app,” and “a fresh canvas ready and waiting for your ideas, inspiration, and art.” FiftyThree later expanded to include an iPhone app, an optional subscription called Paper Pro, and Paste, a collaboration app.įiftyThree also managed to do what few app startups have done: make and sell hardware. Despite its simplicity and also because of it, Apple crowned it the iPad App of the Year. Back in 2012, a Seattle-based startup named FiftyThree launched a drawing app designed exclusively for iPad, with a name that sounded like it was designed specifically for an Apple crowd: Paper.
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