iOS porting
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Apportable translated iOS applications into native Android builds. Founded in 2011 by Collin Jackson and Ian Fischer, it let game studios reuse Objective-C and C++ rather than fund a separate Java port. Games such as Osmos showed that the compiler could produce a commercial Android release.[1]
VentureBeat reported that Google quietly acquired the team in March 2015 as an acqui-hire. The result was less a product exit than a talent and technology absorption: the founders joined Google, not every employee was retained, and the standalone platform disappeared.[2]
Collin Jackson had worked as a Cooliris consultant and Ian Fischer as a Webroot software engineer before they founded Apportable in 2011. Their premise matched a visible mobile-market asymmetry. Successful iOS applications often reached Android late because the platforms used different languages, frameworks, interface conventions, and device assumptions.[2]
Apportable attacked the code problem directly. Instead of asking a studio to rebuild an iPhone game in Java, its toolchain read the Xcode project, compiled Objective-C and C++ for Android, and translated enough native API behavior to produce an APK. YC selected the company for Winter 2011.
The public record contains no accessible founder interview explaining how Jackson and Fischer met or the exact incident that produced the idea. It also contains no two verified founder quotations. The closest detailed operating account comes from a customer. Eddy Boxerman of Hemispherical Games wrote that the company had used Apportable to bring Osmos to Android and answered “Great!” when developers asked about the experience.[1]
Investors backed the compiler thesis. Google Ventures led a $2.4 million round in July 2013, with Salesforce.com, Morado Ventures, and others participating.[3] A further $5 million financing in February 2014 reportedly brought total capital to $7.4 million.[4]
Apportable's main product cross-compiled an iOS codebase into native Android machine code. The tool extracted project settings, compiled Objective-C and C++, mapped native API calls, and emitted an APK that could ship through Google Play. Developers kept one core codebase while handling the unavoidable platform differences around controls, services, packaging, and testing.
The approach was unusually valuable for games. Game logic and rendering often lived in C or C++, and the visual experience did not need to mimic every native phone control. Hemispherical Games said its Osmos port used Apportable's compiler and reached Android with the quality expected from the iOS release.[1]
The company broadened the stack with SpriteBuilder, an open-source game-development suite around Cocos2d and related projects, and Tengu, formerly Apportable Indie, for sharing Swift and Objective-C while retaining native interfaces.[2] This split reflected the central product tension. A compiler could reuse code, but a durable cross-platform environment also needed libraries, editor tooling, runtime compatibility, debugging, and maintenance as Apple and Google changed their platforms.
Apportable targeted iOS-first developers, especially small and mid-sized game studios with proven titles but no Android team. The buyer already had working code and wanted incremental Android revenue without funding a second implementation.
No reliable customer count, compiled-app count, or revenue figure was located. The opportunity grew with Android adoption, but raw device share overstated the obtainable market. A port still needed testing across devices, Android-specific services, store work, support, and enough expected sales to justify the effort.
Apportable competed with manual ports and engines designed for multiple targets from the start, including Unity and Cocos2d-x. Manual work offered the most platform control but doubled engineering effort. Cross-platform engines were attractive for new games but often required an existing iOS title to migrate its architecture. Apportable's wedge was preserving code already written.
That wedge narrowed as developers chose shared engines earlier and platform owners improved their own tools. The compiler also sat between two moving targets: Apple changed Objective-C, Swift, and iOS frameworks; Google changed Android APIs, devices, and store requirements. Each change created compatibility work before it created customer value.
Apportable sold access to its compiler and development platform, including an enterprise product. Reliable historical pricing was not found. Public reports identify $2.4 million in 2013 funding and $5 million in 2014, or $7.4 million in total.[3][4]
The economics depended on reuse. Customers paid when a port cost less than a second team and could reach market soon enough to earn Android revenue. Apportable absorbed ongoing compatibility costs across two operating systems, compilers, and device ecosystems. No revenue, margins, or acquisition price were disclosed.
Apportable promised one codebase, but the value boundary was not the compiler alone. A production app called platform APIs, integrated services, handled touch and lifecycle events, and relied on third-party libraries. Every unsupported behavior weakened the economic case because developers had to write and debug a special bridge.
The company responded by expanding from compilation into a wider toolchain, including SpriteBuilder and Tengu. That increased coverage but also the surface it had to maintain. The non-obvious mechanism was compatibility debt: success added applications and frameworks whose behavior had to survive the next iOS or Android change.
Osmos supplied meaningful product evidence. Its developer confirmed that the compiler produced a native Android app and described the collaboration positively.[1] Games also avoided some native-interface translation problems.
Yet game developers could choose Unity, Cocos2d-x, or another multi-target engine at project start. Apportable was strongest after a studio had already committed to iOS-specific code, a valuable migration market but not complete control of new development.
VentureBeat learned in 2016 that Google had bought Apportable around March 2015. Its sources described an acqui-hire, said not everyone was retained, and confirmed that Jackson and Fischer became Google engineers that May.[2] Google did not announce the transaction, and terms remain unknown.
The strongest alternative explanation is a successful strategic sale: Google had invested through GV and valued the team's cross-platform engineering. The available evidence does not support a financial verdict. It does support a product verdict. Apportable ceased to exist as an independent developer platform, and the people were more durable than the commercial tool.