Google has acquired Sparkbuy, a laptop and TV comparison shopping site, for an undisclosed sum. Sparkbuy, which never even emerged from beta status, has discontinued operation as a site, but the three people who ran it will now be working for Google.
The team, led by CEO Dan Shapiro, who is also on the boards of PhotoBucket, Bonanza (formerly Bonanzle), and WashingtonTechnology.org, posted the following message on the SparkBuy site:
We are pleased as punch to announce that Sparkbuy has been acquired by Google.
I know, right? We can hardly believe it ourselves.
When we built Sparkbuy way back in the waning days of 2010, we wanted to make it really easy to find the gadget that’s perfect for your needs. Our idea was that you could combine huge piles of structured data with an intuitive interface, et voila: a few clicks to find the electronics widget with exactly the features you want.
Have you tried to find a great laptop or TV recently? Crazy hard.
But when people started actually using Sparkbuy, we started to see that the opportunity was bigger. In fact, it was much, much bigger. There are so many “crazy hard” search problems out there we know it could take ages for us to deliver what our customers are asking for. So when Google showed up and suggested we could work together to turbocharge our efforts, we just couldn’t pass it up.
We’re stoked about the opportunity to share our vision for search with a broader audience. And while we won’t be offering services at sparkbuy.com any more, stay tuned for truckloads of new awesome from our team at Google.
The other member of the team are Scott Haug and Isaac Myers.
@shaug
Scott Haugat the google campus in mountain view. feels more like a university than a company.
16 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto
@icelarctica
Isaac MyersHah! Google Buys Seattle’s Sparkbuy to Improve Consumer Electronics Search http://t.co/9aRlID9 16 hours ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto
Danny Sullivan says “a person familiar with the purchase” told him some of Sparkbuy’s user interface ideas will make their way into Google Product Search.
