Google has acquired Bump Technologies, the company responsible for the creation of the Bump app which allows two smartphones to share information by ‘bumping’ them together.
The announcement came via Bump’s blog, where CEO and co-founder David Lieb said “…we couldn’t be more thrilled to join Google, a company that shares our belief that the application of computing to difficult problems can fundamentally change the way that we interact with one another and the world.”
Terms of the acquisition were not discussed and it’s not immediately clear why Google would want something like Bump. The Bump app allows users to share and sync data between devices without the need for NFC, though it works in a similar manner. The app also works across platforms, letting users share between Android and iOS devices, so this might be a possible reason for Google snapping the company up. The search giant could be looking for a way to compete with NFC or might just be exploring a generally more wireless method of file transfer for the Android operating system.
At the moment though, Google’s motives for the purchase are unknown. Bump, as well as an upcoming app called Flock, “…will continue to work as they always have for now.”