Facebook (News - Alert) completed another talent acquisition deal earlier this week by snatching up Strobe, maker of platform that helps developers build and manage HTML5-based Web applications for desktops, smartphones and tablets.

The social networking giant was clear to point out in a statement to Tech Crunch that it is acquiring Strobe's talent, not necessarily its technology. The clear prize in the deal is Strobe founder and CEO Charles Jolley, who will join Facebook's mobile engineering team along with, assumedly, some of his staff.

Jolley will also present a keynote address at the upcoming DevCon5 event in Santa Clara, Calif. Jolley’s keynote will take place Wednesday, December 07, 2011 9:00-9:25am. DevCon5’s mission is to prepare attendees for the Future Mobile Web and the delivery of personal experiences everywhere on everything.

Jolley made a name for himself at Apple (News - Alert) in 2007 by building the open-source JavaScript framework SproutCore, which helped serve as the basis for Strobe, a company that was formed only 18 months ago.

“Strobe was founded on the belief that HTML5 can transform the way average people use their mobile phones through apps that are available everywhere, anytime, on any device,” Jolley noted in a blog post. “Now we’re joining the talented people at Facebook to help develop innovative mobile experiences for their users around the world.”

Jolley added that the service provided by Strobe will continue to exist in its current beta form, with email updates sent out if any changes are made. He said that the SproutCore JavaScript framework will continue be maintained as an independent project.

Reading between the lines, one can assume that further development on the Strobe platform will halt, even though the company launched a developer preview of the beta project just two months ago. Judging by Facebook's statement, it also seems unlikely that Jolley's technology will follow him to the social network, at least not in its current form.

The San Francisco startup received around $2.5 million in seed money from VC firms O’Reilly AlphaTech and Hummer Winblad (News - Alert), both of which held seats on Strobe's board. The details of the talent acquisition were not disclosed.