14 DAY TRIAL // Google has acquired Bump, a company that makes it easier to share data between two devices, for example, sharing contacts or photos between two phones by simply bumping them together.
Unlike you'd expect, this doesn't rely on NFC, a technology Google has been a big fan of, or anything similar.
Instead, all the data is shared via the cloud, with the "recording" of the bump, from the two phones' sensors, serving as the identifying key used to link the two devices together.
"Our mission at Bump has always been to build the simplest tools for sharing the information you care about with other people and devices. We strive to create experiences that feel like magic, enabled behind the scene with innovations in math, data processing, and algorithms," Bump wrote in its announcement.
"We couldn't be more thrilled to join Google, a company that shares our belief that the application of computing to difficult problems can fundamentally change the way that we interact with one another and the world," it added.
The app has been around for a few years, but never became popular enough to push the company too forward. This is why Google was able to pick it up for the relatively modest $30 to $60 million (€22.5 to €45 million) that AllThingsD reported.
More recently, the company introduced a group photo-sharing app dubbed Flock that had some similarities to the original Bump app. For now, both Bump and Flock will continue to be supported and operate undisrupted.
Judging by Google's track record though, that won't be for long. But the company did at least seem to entertain the idea that it wants the Bump team working on more products and that it wasn't simply interested in the talent.
"The Bump team has demonstrated a strong ability to quickly build and develop products that users love, and we think they’ll be a great fit at Google," is all that Google said.