Facebook has acquired the company behind the fitness app Moves . The mobile app from Finnish company ProtoGeo Oy tracks the distance a user walks and the calories they burn. The move brings the social media king into the growing market for fitness and health tracking technology.
Although the amount Facebook paid was not disclosed, a spokesperson said it does not reach the heights of other high-profile deals, such as the purchase of WhatsApp ($19 billion) and Oculus VR ($2.3 billion).
The fitness tracking is attracting the interest of many technology companies, with companies such as Fitbit and Jawbone selling electronic bracelets that "measure" the user's physical activities. Also in March, Google announced a special version of Android for "smart" watches and other types of wearable devices. The Android Wear program will allow the development of devices that can carry sensors to monitor the user's heart rate or the distance they run, according to Google.
With Moves , Facebook is entering the space without developing its own hardware. The app uses a smartphone’s sensors to track physical activity — from walking to cycling to jogging. Moves, which is free, has been downloaded more than four million times for iPhones and Android phones, according to ProtoGeo.
As it became known, the application will continue to be available as a standalone, and there are no plans for integration/mixing of data with Facebook.
