Slashdot Mirror
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."
WTF . . .is a feature phone
I didn't know either. Wikipedia has this to say:
Feature phone is a term used to describe a low-end mobile phone that has less computing ability than a smartphone, but more capability than a "dumb phone". The term was originally used to describe mobile phones which had features which weren't available on most other contemporary mobile phones
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
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.