14 DAY TRIAL // The Emu team has posted a short announcement on their website explaining how sorry they are to be shutting down their app and how happy they are to be joining Google as of August 25. In less than 20 days, their app will no longer be available in the AppStore and existing users will not be able to send, receive or download messages.
This acquisition was, most probably, made for the team behind the app. Google wanted to hire the brains that created and developed Emu so far. It's funny how the app was iPhone-only, and until yesterday the Android users were greeted with a message that said the Emu Team was only focused on iPhone.
Emu is described as texting with a built-in assistant. The app is able to schedule events or meetings, share locations and set reminders as well as sending photos.
The location sharing is similar to the one in Apple's "Find My Friends" app and it features live updating so your friends can see when you are getting closer. Emu helps you find a good time slot by checking your calendar, and then it can schedule events for you.
There is also a snooze for later feature that can help you postpone an action, and it has location-based reminders. Emu has built-in restaurants reviews and scheduling capabilities via yelp so you can add a lunch or dinner on your calendar from right within the app. The same works for finding a movie in a theatre near you buying tickets via Fandango.
The Emu team consists of only five people and all of them are going to be joining Google later this month. According to TechCrunch, Emu's co-founder and CEO Gummi Hafsteinsson used to work for Google and Apple. He was in charge of Siri and Google maps.
Emu debuted as an Android application and later removed their app from the Google Market. Among the beta features, users were able to share their locations for 30 minutes, and after that the tracking was no longer visible. Another great feature was related to muting conversations or the entire app for a set number of minutes or hours.
The cited source says it is expected of Google to use this technology in their Hangouts app which is evolving into a full-fledged messaging application, leaving behind its reputation as a video calling communication tool.
Emy previously raised $1.5 million (€1.12 million) from KPCB, Kleiner Perkins, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Menlo Ventures and others. Neither Google, nor Emu have disclosed any information about the amount of money exchanged for this acquisition.
