Facebook Acquires Mobile Technologies, a Speech Translation Developer

 By 
Seth Fiegerman
 on 
Facebook Acquires Mobile Technologies, a Speech Translation Developer

Facebook has acquired Mobile Technologies, a developer of voice recognition and translation tools, the two companies announced late Monday. The terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

Mobile Technologies, founded in 2001, built Jibbigo, an app for iPhone and Android that the company describes as "the world’s first speech-to-speech translator on a phone that runs online and even off-line." The company will join Facebook at its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.

[seealso slug="facebook-annoying"]

"Voice technology has become an increasingly important way for people to navigate mobile devices and the web, and this technology will help us evolve our products to match that evolution," Tom Stocky, Facebook's director of product management, wrote in a post. "We believe this acquisition is an investment in our long-term product roadmap as we continue towards our company's mission.

Here's the full post from Stocky announcing the acquisition:

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