Facebook buys fitness app Moves

Facebook has bought the fitness tracking app, Moves for an undisclosed sum. Image: ItechApple

The two-year-old Finnish start-up ProtoGeo, which developed the app, said it had been bought by the US social networking company, and that key members of its team would be moving to the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Both companies said Moves would continue as a standalone application, rather than be integrated into the Facebook framework.

Moves assured users that there are no plans to change that or co-mingle data with 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," Facebook said.

Facebook executives told analysts in a conference call that they were focused on building up their "ecosystem" of apps as a way to bring more users to the company and, eventually, find more avenues for revenue via advertising or other means.

The company made two large acquisitions earlier this year, spending US$19bn for the instant messaging service WhatsApp and US$2bn for a virtual reality company, Oculus.

No financial details of the Moves deal were given.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge