Google Buys Social Media App Developer Angstro

Google has bought Angstro, the company's third acquisition in August of a social application developer. While there was no official word from Google, Rohit Khare, co-founder of Angstro, announced the acquisition late Thursday on the company's blog. Financial details were not disclosed. The Silicon Valley company develops applications that tap user information on social networks to deliver new services. Angstro says it has shipped apps to discover new photos on Facebook, to improve Caller ID by using LinkedIn profiles and to create a real-time social address book.

"While our work here may be done, the struggle for open, interoperable social networks is still only just beginning, and I'm looking forward to working on that in my new role at Google," Khare said.

Google's plans for Angstro's team of engineers is not clear. The acquisition is Google's third this August involving a social application company. Earlier, Google acquired Slide, a maker of entertainment applications for Facebook and MySpace. Slide's apps let people send virtual gifts to friends, care for online pets and create their own virtual goods. Less than a week later, Google bought social currency site Jambool for an undisclosed amount. The company's platform is used by developers to monetize the virtual goods they offer on social networks. According to Jambool, its Social Gold platform in the first half of this year processed more than double the entire payment volume processed in all of 2009.

While Google has remained quiet about the acquisitions, Industry observers say the company is likely preparing its own social networking product that could compete on some level with Facebook, the world's largest social network with a half-billion users.

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