Google buys Sparrow for improvements to Gmail

Google announced on Friday that it had acquired Sparrow, the popular email application for iOS and OS X for an undisclosed amount.

According to CNN Money, a Google spokeswoman said that the search giant will keep Sparrow up and running, and thought it will continue to support the application, it doesn't plan to offer any significant updates in the future.

The Sparrow deal is Google's fifth this year and will add engineering talent that's sure to be useful to Google, Information Week reported. Sparrow's co-founder and CTO Hoa Dinh Viet used to work for Apple, on iCal and iSync, and for Amazon, on its Kindle e-reader.

The five employees at Google will work on new projects for Gmail.

The Verge reported that that Sparrow was acquired for under $25 million, and that there wasn't a bidding war surrounding the purchase.

The Verge's sources explained that Google wants to "bring polish, 'beauty', and ease of use to all its Gmail experiences across platforms." There have been no shortage of complaints about Gmails integration with Apple's Mail.  

Does this mean that a Gmail native email client may be in the works for both Mac and PC? We'll just have to wait and see.