Mere days before Facebook is expected to begin public trading, the company has made another acquisition: it’s hired the entire seven-member team of Lightbox, a camera and photo sharing app for Android. The Lightbox team announced the move today, and Facebook has confirmed it to AllThingsD, saying that “the Lightbox team has incredible experience developing innovative mobile products that people love.” It’s one of a few mobile-focused purchases for Facebook, which bought similar service Instagram last month.
Facebook hires Lightbox photo sharing team, Lightbox.com shutting down June 15th
Facebook is hiring the team from Lightbox, an Android photo sharing app, for mobile development. The Lightbox site will shut down on June 15th, before which users can download their photos.
Facebook is hiring the team from Lightbox, an Android photo sharing app, for mobile development. The Lightbox site will shut down on June 15th, before which users can download their photos.
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
Unlike Instagram, Lightbox as a dedicated service will not survive the transition. According to the team, Facebook is “not acquiring the company or any of the user data hosted on Lightbox.com.” Instead, the team will shut the site down in preparation for joining Facebook. New users can no longer sign up for Lightbox, and current members have until June 15th to download their photos. After that, Lightbox will be making portions of the code open source and posting it to a repository.
Update: We’ve since learned that one member of Lightbox actually won’t be joining Facebook. Creative Director Giles Peyton-Nicoll will instead be launching a London-based design consulting business.
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