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I simply believe Apple/Microsoft were circling Figma for an acquisition. That would be serious competition for Adobe and I imagine they got scared and threw the

by saos 4y ago

I simply believe Apple/Microsoft were circling Figma for an acquisition. That would be serious competition for Adobe and I imagine they got scared and threw the kitchen sink at Figma. If you're Apple or Microsoft PM. Please make internal noise to purchase a Figma competitor like Sketch and give Adobe/Figma a run for it money. Adobe clearly doesn't like competition.

bushbaba 4y ago
*Some* VCs will invest and play off this, knowing they can run up the price by starting a bid war. How it plays out. VC: Hey Oracle, did you hear salesforce wants to buy XYZ Startup for 1M, you want to counter? Oracle: Screw Benioff. I'm in for 2MM. VC: Hey Salesforce, thanks for the first call. Oracle wants to buy XYZ startup for 4M, you want to counter. Salesforce: Those devils, I'll do 5M. .... VC continues the game until they've hit the ceiling or are about to, and walks away with a ton of cash.
- kenneth 4y ago
  I wish I had this much clout as a VC but I'm sad to report that it doesn't quite work out like this at all.
ideamotor 4y ago
I agree that would justify it. As they admitted, the article’s author is an outsider. They threw out some questionable aspects of the purchase but let’s also realize they are not objective. This person worked on XD and haphazardly already consider this a loss of their personal investments in Adobe.
Arn_Thor 4y ago
Maybe it’s lack of imagination but I can’t see how Figma fits into Apple’s software portfolio. Sure, it’s in the realm of “creative stuff” but so is a lot of software Apple isn’t involved with
- capableweb 4y ago
  Similarly to how Final Cut is a video editing tool and Garageband is a music production tool. Why can't Apple also do a digital design tool?
  - ingenieros 4y ago
    Figma runs on the cloud and doesn't move hardware sales. FCP and Logic were 2 smart strategic acquisitions which helped Apple retain “PRO" users at a time where Windows had become good enough for this market segment. PRO users continued to purchase Apple's overpriced hardware when they were clearly falling behind PC's in terms of sheer performance and value because they were stuck in these ecosystems. Figma on the other hand can run even on a Chromebook so no need for users to upgrade their workstations every couple of years.
bmitc 4y ago
Is Sketch still macOS only? That would seem like a major barrier.
- chubs 4y ago
  I read recently that they have a read-only web version now
  - capableweb 4y ago
    So not at all a competitor to Figma then.
    - mmikeff 4y ago
      Figma are a competitor to Sketch though, in that many designers use Macs and for a while Sketch was the UI app of choice, but seems that Figma ate their lunch.
dewey 4y ago
Figma doesn't sound like something that would fit Apple at all. One of their differentiators is their performant web app which is something Apple is very much against. Then collaboration where Apple is also bad at on top of iterating fast, which Apple is also bad at for software.
- nkristoffersen 4y ago
  I don't know. I've been impressed with icloud.com in the past. They didn't need to do that, and yet they build full featured web versions of their office suite.
- mch82 4y ago
  Wouldn’t be surprised if Apple Freeform matures into a Figma competitor https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/06/06/apple-offers-sneak-peek-at-freeform-collaboration-tool-for-iphone-ipad-mac https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/06/06/apple-offers-snea...
  - madeofpalk 4y ago
    I would absolutely be surprised if they did that. Apple does not seem interested in this line of apps, and its quite a lot to go from glorified paint to a Figma competitor. There's just not much precedent for Apple caring about building out apps for 'pro' work - Final Cut and Logic Pro as historical anomalies.
    - nkristoffersen 4y ago
      It could be more like freeform is Garageband to Logic. So a Design Pro app could be something in the future... They do seem to continue investing in Final Cut and Logic.
      - mch82 4y ago
        Exactly. Apple needs more killer apps for iPad. With the Pencil, touch, LiDAR, and Pro Motion display, iPad is the best platform for design… but it’s potential is unrealized. Plus, otherwise PC-only companies already buy Macs so that designers can use Sketch. iPads are easier for companies to buy & Apple would sell a lot of them if it brought a UX solution to iPad. I’ve used Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, InVision and am generally unimpressed with these as prototyping tools. They overemphasize pixel perfect screen design & under solve the most important UX task: documenting the end-to-end workflow through a user task. My favorite prototyping tool was App Cooker, a workflow-focused app for iPad that sadly got acquired and discontinued. There’s a ton of room for innovation in the design space.
NonNefarious 4y ago
Why would Apple be interested? They really don't care about applications anymore. I'm a bit surprised they even bother with FCP and Motion at this point. I have no idea what they would do with Figma. They can't even get SwiftUI to work after several years, so offering up a design product as part of Xcode or something would definitely be lipstick on a pig.
- NonNefarious 4y ago
  Apparently someone from the Xcode team modded that down. There's always someone eager to take offense at facts.

by saos 4y ago

bushbaba 4y ago

*Some* VCs will invest and play off this, knowing they can run up the price by starting a bid war. How it plays out. VC: Hey Oracle, did you hear salesforce wants to buy XYZ Startup for 1M, you want to counter? Oracle: Screw Benioff. I'm in for 2MM. VC: Hey Salesforce, thanks for the first call. Oracle wants to buy XYZ startup for 4M, you want to counter. Salesforce: Those devils, I'll do 5M. .... VC continues the game until they've hit the ceiling or are about to, and walks away with a ton of cash.

kenneth 4y ago
I wish I had this much clout as a VC but I'm sad to report that it doesn't quite work out like this at all.

ideamotor 4y ago

I agree that would justify it. As they admitted, the article’s author is an outsider. They threw out some questionable aspects of the purchase but let’s also realize they are not objective. This person worked on XD and haphazardly already consider this a loss of their personal investments in Adobe.

Arn_Thor 4y ago

Maybe it’s lack of imagination but I can’t see how Figma fits into Apple’s software portfolio. Sure, it’s in the realm of “creative stuff” but so is a lot of software Apple isn’t involved with

capableweb 4y ago
Similarly to how Final Cut is a video editing tool and Garageband is a music production tool. Why can't Apple also do a digital design tool?
- ingenieros 4y ago
  Figma runs on the cloud and doesn't move hardware sales. FCP and Logic were 2 smart strategic acquisitions which helped Apple retain “PRO" users at a time where Windows had become good enough for this market segment. PRO users continued to purchase Apple's overpriced hardware when they were clearly falling behind PC's in terms of sheer performance and value because they were stuck in these ecosystems. Figma on the other hand can run even on a Chromebook so no need for users to upgrade their workstations every couple of years.

bmitc 4y ago

Is Sketch still macOS only? That would seem like a major barrier.

chubs 4y ago
I read recently that they have a read-only web version now
- capableweb 4y ago
  So not at all a competitor to Figma then.
  - mmikeff 4y ago
    Figma are a competitor to Sketch though, in that many designers use Macs and for a while Sketch was the UI app of choice, but seems that Figma ate their lunch.

dewey 4y ago

Figma doesn't sound like something that would fit Apple at all. One of their differentiators is their performant web app which is something Apple is very much against. Then collaboration where Apple is also bad at on top of iterating fast, which Apple is also bad at for software.

nkristoffersen 4y ago
I don't know. I've been impressed with icloud.com in the past. They didn't need to do that, and yet they build full featured web versions of their office suite.
mch82 4y ago
Wouldn’t be surprised if Apple Freeform matures into a Figma competitor https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/06/06/apple-offers-sneak-peek-at-freeform-collaboration-tool-for-iphone-ipad-mac https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/06/06/apple-offers-snea...
- madeofpalk 4y ago
  I would absolutely be surprised if they did that. Apple does not seem interested in this line of apps, and its quite a lot to go from glorified paint to a Figma competitor. There's just not much precedent for Apple caring about building out apps for 'pro' work - Final Cut and Logic Pro as historical anomalies.
  - nkristoffersen 4y ago
    It could be more like freeform is Garageband to Logic. So a Design Pro app could be something in the future... They do seem to continue investing in Final Cut and Logic.
    - mch82 4y ago
      Exactly. Apple needs more killer apps for iPad. With the Pencil, touch, LiDAR, and Pro Motion display, iPad is the best platform for design… but it’s potential is unrealized. Plus, otherwise PC-only companies already buy Macs so that designers can use Sketch. iPads are easier for companies to buy & Apple would sell a lot of them if it brought a UX solution to iPad. I’ve used Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, InVision and am generally unimpressed with these as prototyping tools. They overemphasize pixel perfect screen design & under solve the most important UX task: documenting the end-to-end workflow through a user task. My favorite prototyping tool was App Cooker, a workflow-focused app for iPad that sadly got acquired and discontinued. There’s a ton of room for innovation in the design space.

NonNefarious 4y ago

Why would Apple be interested? They really don't care about applications anymore. I'm a bit surprised they even bother with FCP and Motion at this point. I have no idea what they would do with Figma. They can't even get SwiftUI to work after several years, so offering up a design product as part of Xcode or something would definitely be lipstick on a pig.

NonNefarious 4y ago
Apparently someone from the Xcode team modded that down. There's always someone eager to take offense at facts.