Google Buys Popular Messaging Company
Google on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Emu, a smart messaging service that comes with a built-in assistant. The service will promptly be shut down as of Aug. 25, Emu announced. The company didn’t say how its technology will integrate with Google’s own suite of messaging applications, though it’s not hard to see Emu’s appeal.
In addition to personal assistant-like technology, Emu is capable of seamlessly creating calendar events based on information in your chat. So, for example, if you ask a friend if they want to get lunch next week, Emu will intelligently setup a calendar event with just a tap.
Emu is a relatively new messaging client, and it only just went out of beta earlier this year. But it differentiated itself in a lot of ways with its built in contextual technology. If Emu is directly integrated into an app like Hangouts, users will easily be able to make calendar appointments, set reminders and even make restaurant reservations without leaving Google’s chat client. Messaging is an enormous part of every mobile experience, making it a major battleground for big tech firms.
Although Emu is shutting down, hopefully we will see the soul of the service remain intact under Google’s guidance. Once we hit Aug. 25, the Emu app will be shut down completely, and it will no longer be available in the Google Play store. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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