In Facebook’s quest to connect the universe or at least the world, the social media titan has acquired Onavo, an Israeli start-up specializing in mobile utility application development. This the first time Facebook will run a research and development center in Israel. Purchase price is estimated to be between $150 – $200 million dollars, giving Facebook the ability to produce better, more improved mobile products.
Facebook has focused heavily on strengthening its mobile business with 100 million customers already using Facebook for Every Phone App, allowing people in developing countries to access Facebook via phone without having to purchase a pricey smartphone. Onavo’s data compression technology should improve the app’s ability and functionality as well as boost Facebook’s new project Internet.org, the initiative to connect everyone across the world by making the internet affordable and accessible to all.
“We expect Onavo’s data compression technology to play a central role in our mission to connect more people to the Internet, and their analytic tools will help us provide better, more efficient mobile products,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
According to Onavo the Tel Aviv, Israel-based company’s mobile utility apps already have “millions of users” worldwide. Facebook plans to keep the Onavo brand alive, and its apps will continue to be available in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store for Android.