As we all know, Facebook is notorious for acquiring companies simply for the talented folks that created them. This time, they’ve gone after the white whale of chat, Beluga. Since I heard about it, I’ve been using Beluga more and more for group messaging, so news of a Facebook acquisition concerned me. However, it seems that Facebook is doing things a bit differently this go-round.
Here’s what we know: Facebook has acquired both the product and the team, and the plan is apparently to keep the service open for now. With past acquisitions, Facebook has only acquired companies for their talent. But this time it’s apparently a bit different, as they’re interested in both the talent and the technology behind Beluga.
SMS and MMS are becoming old news. Group chat is becoming more and more popular and Beluga is one of the top players in that space. Facebook wants a piece and what better way to get ahead than buy a star player. Deeper Facebook integration with Beluga would be nice, but if they try to stuff Beluga into their existing Facebook app or otherwise limit it’s ability to spread, the results would be disastrous.
For now, Beluga will continue to function as it does today. Beluga accounts and data will not be lost. We’ll be providing more details on future plans for Beluga in the coming weeks.
Are you on Beluga? What do you think about the service? Will Facebook make it more awesome?
via TechCrunch