We have some really exciting news for you: this morning, HP announced its intent to acquire us. The plan is to take the entire Tabblo experience— the editor, the template engine, and the output formats— and spread it far and wide across the web, and frankly, we could not be more excited.

When we launched Tabblo, the simple mission was to take bits to atoms, making the online content that results from popular activities (photo-sharing, blogging, socializing, etc.) compelling enough for users to want to print. We started with sharing photos, words, and templates because we believed the emotion and creativity involved in the act of telling stories was a great first beachhead in becoming the print engine for the web. And nine months, 150 thousand tabblos, and 5 million photos later, you guys have proven us right.

But now it is time to go out and apply our tools to even more type of content. To build new offline formats. Tabblo.com is a great place to tell the kinds of stories that you all have authored on the site, but the rest of the web deserves the same type of smooth transition form online to offline, from bits to atoms.

In the coming months, we’ll be talking more about the new types products and partnerships we are going to build together, but for now, here are the answers to the big 3 questions we know you must be asking:

1. Will Tabblo.com go away?

No, we have no plans to shut down the site - in fact, we’re going to be trying out new and different applications of our technology and we’d love your feedback on it.

2. HP already owns a photo-sharing site (Snapfish). Will Tabblo or Tabblo.com get mushed into Snapfish?

No. Our mission is completely different: we are aiming to make tools that will let us become the print engine for the rest of the web. This means a wide assortment of content that goes beyond traditional online photo sharing.

3. Do you guys still care about the Tabblo community?

Absolutely. We wouldn’t be here without you guys. You pushed and prodded and helped to make the experience what it is today. In fact— we kind of consider you our secret weapon as we move forward in developing new ways to move your content to offline formats. By all means, please keep on tabbloing and stick around to see where the fire in our bellies takes us next…

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 9:02 am and is filed under corporate info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.