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Facebook Acquires Feature Phone App Maker Snaptu
Krystalo writes "Facebook has agreed to acquire Snaptu, an Israeli startup that makes Java-based feature phone apps, for an estimated $70 million. The acquisition, for which neither company would reveal financial details, is expected to close within a few weeks. Earlier this year, Facebook worked with the mobile development firm to build a feature phone app that is accessible free of data charges in various overseas markets. The company says the Facebook for Feature Phones app currently works on more than 2,500 devices."
They can, it's just cheaper to buy somebody that's already put the effort into it, that way the risk is being paid by somebody else.
One of the few good things about monopolies was that a company like AT&T could afford to fund Bell Labs without having to answer to angry shareholders as to why they were wasting money on foolish things like transistors and UNIX, and on eggheads like Claude Shannon.