Google Continues Clean-Up, Pulls Sparrow From App Store

When it comes to email apps for your smartphone or tablet, the list of options is exhaustive. Google recently made a big splash with Inbox, which aims to make your email more contextual to-do than messaging platform. After buying Sparrow, Google did what they typically do in an acquisition setting, and put the skids on incoming updates. With the service languishing of late as an also-ran that proved a reliable standard for modern email apps to gauge themselves against, it's now been pulled from the App Store for iOs and OS X.

Though there was no announcement of Sparrow going the way of the Dodo for Apple's platforms, it's likely due to the app just being extra weight for Google to shoulder. It could also suggest Google is simply pushing forward with Inbox, and wants to focus efforts there.

On launch, Google's Inbox proved an interesting concept as to how email could work for users. It's deep ties to other Google services like Calendar help bridge some gaps, while the creation of bundles lets you focus on a particular set of tasks or topics.

Inbox has been slowly rolling out, with Google patiently opening the floodgates. The last time Google released invites, it was a wide open portal for a short period of time. That slow rollout suggests Google has long-term aspirations for Inbox.

Sparrow was an early example of what email apps could do better, which is how many view Inbox. And lets be honest, we'd all but forgotten about Sparrow until today (the last time we covered it was 2012!), so the closure is no surprise. Much like Google's other recent early spring cleaning project, Helpouts, it probably became redundant to keep it lying around.

Via: TechCrunch