Facebook has acquired ProtoGeo, the Finnish maker of the Android and iOS app Moves. Moves is a fitness and activity tracker, and can determine whether a user is walking or cycling via sensors in a smartphone and a self-developed algorithm.
Moves’ website states that the ProtoGeo Oy development team will help Facebook “build and improve” the social networking giant’s diverse products and services. The start-up’s Moves app will remain available. Also, data already collected from Moves users would not be transferred to Social Graph, Facebook’s ‘social search engine’. WhatsApp made a similar promise after it was enlisted by Facebook.
With the acquisition, the listed social networking site is responding to the trend of large internet companies to collect user data in the field of exercise and sports. Google and Apple, among others, are developing services and devices that can collect such data.
How much Facebook paid for the start-up has not been disclosed. The Helsinki-based company claims to have recorded more than four million Moves downloads on iOS and Android. An API is also available that allows third parties to use the collected data.