Mountain View-based Google announced today on the Google Code Blog that after years of working together, they have acquired web and mobile application publisher and widget developer startup LabPixies for an undisclosed amount of money. Rumor has it that Google paid somewhere between $15 and $25 million for the startup, though that has not been confirmed by either company. The LabPixies team will be joining Google in its Tel Aviv-based office in Israel. Google expects LabPixies to help expand its iGoogle service across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
According to LabPixies itself, there are no plans to change their current lineup of products. With that said, they will “continue to evaluate this over time.”
Full announcement by LabPixies after the break.
LabPixies acquired by Google Read
On April 2010, Google acquired LabPixies, a leading developer of personalized web gadgets “widgets” including iGoogle, Android and the iPhone. Google and LabPixies’ shared focus on the user and passion for apps made this the right time to come together and an exciting opportunity to do more together for users and developers.
Q: What is happening?
A: We have some very exciting news today – LabPixies has just been acquired by Google. We started LabPixies to help our users express themselves in a fun and creative way and personalize their online experience. We were one of the first developers to create gadgets for iGoogle and our shared focus on the user and passion for apps made this the right time to come together and an exciting opportunity to do more together for users and developers.
Q: Why now?
A: We both felt the time was right to come together. We started LabPixies to create a truly personalized online experience and develop fun widgets that people find useful every day. Working at Google will help us scale to more users as well as giving our team greater opportunities. Google and LabPixies teams have worked on many projects together including the launch of global OpenSocial based gadgets. The acquisition is an opportunity to learn from each other to bring more apps to users, help developers and improve the overall developer ecosystem.
Q: What will happen to LabPixies’ current products, will they continue?
A: There are no planned changes, but we will continue to evaluate this over time.
via Erictric