Incredible Labs is being purchased by Yahoo. Incredible Labs is the creator of Donna, a virtual personal assistant and productivity app. The iPhone app has become quite popular in less than a year on the market. It has earned 4 stars in reviews from nearly 600 users. But Donna’s days of being your iPhone assistant are over.
The deal with Yahoo means that several Incredible Labs employees are moving over to the Internet giant. With that, Donna’s services will no longer be available. In a post on the official Donna blog, Incredible Labs Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Cheng writes:
“We’re looking forward to the possibilities that will come from bringing the Donna vision—letting technology take care of you—to Yahoo. Upon closing, our team will be joining Yahoo and working with some incredibly talented people, or in the case of some of us, returning to a company we know and love. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close shortly. Following closing, Donna will be removed from the app store and discontinued as a service.”
In a statement to TechCrunch, Yahoo praised the Donna app. The company mentioned nothing of shutting down Donna in that statement saying only:
“In case you haven’t heard of her, Donna’s pretty amazing – she has an immense amount of intellect, she keeps you on time and gives you the information you need, when you need it. For her clients, she’s the ultimate daily habit. When we met with the team from Incredible Labs, it was an immediate fit. As we look to the future, our visions are aligned in that we think technology should be smart enough to think for us.”
Yahoo did say that the five Incredible Labs employees joining its staff would work with Yahoo Mail. Time Magazine’s tech blogger Harry McCracken suggests we could soon be seeing Donna-like features in future Yahoo offerings.
The Donna app is synced with your personal calendar, sending reminders of future meetings and tasks. Donna sends these notifications on your iPhone. The app even checks traffic and weather data to give you a head’s up if you need to allow extra time to get to your next destination.
Image: Donna App
Do employees get additional compensation when these kinds of things happen? What if they really like what they were doing with Donna but don’t like Yahoo Mail?
Hmm, I’m not sure about this move, but that view is neither here nor there really.
I kinda think there are things Yahoo needs to work on first. Its fairly new mail interface for one, which is still quite glitchy.