If its recent purchases tell us anything, it’s that Facebook is looking to move beyond Walls and Likes. Just after it’s puzzling acquisition of virtual reality gaming company Oculus VR, the company has now acquired ProtoGeo, the developers behind the fitness tracking app Moves. The Swedish company confirmed the acquisition in a blog post. Neither company has disclosed how much Facebook paid for ProtoGeo.
The Moves app uses smartphone sensors to track the daily movements of its users for data such as calories burned and activity. The app is available for both iPhone and Android, and according to ProtoGeo has amassed over four million downloads.
Current Moves users can rest assured that, for now, there won’t be any immediate changes to the Moves app. According to ProtoGeo, Moves won’t be sharing your calories burned or activities with Facebook. In a statement released by ProtoGeo, “For those of you that use the Moves app – the Moves experience will continue to operate as a stand-alone app, and there are no plans to change that or co-mingle data with Facebook.”
So why would Facebook want to move into the fitness and health arena? First, because they can. Facebook certainly has the cash to purchase it. According to Facebook, “The Moves team has built an incredible tool for the millions of people who want to better understand their daily fitness activity, and we’re looking forward to the app continuing to gain momentum.”
This purchase actually makes more sense than its Oculus acquisition. The very nature of “getting healthy” oftentimes is a social affair. Think about the last time you made a healthy lifestyle change: started a diet, trained for a 5K, or quit smoking. You likely told friends and family about your decision, and announced your achievements and milestones along the way. More importantly, you likely did this on Facebook. I recently decided to quit smoking after 15 years and have used Facebook to announce my personal achievements, and see plenty of posts from others announcing theirs as well.
Facebook purchasing an app in a sector that every other major technology company isn’t so puzzling after all. The only question perhaps is how long until height and weight are a part of your Facebook profile?
Source:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation.
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment