Google Acquires Jibe Mobile

If you’ve never heard of Jibe Mobile, it doesn’t matter. Well, not anymore at least. That’s because Jibe Mobile has now officially been acquired by Google, in a move to increase Android Rich Communications Services (RCS) adoption.

So what did Jibe Mobile do that got Google’s attention? For that, let’s understand a few basics. One of the most popular means of messaging, regardless of the mobile phone’s make or model is SMS. It is the most basic forms of inter-device communication. It doesn’t truly fulfill all our needs, which is why we’ve been so quick to adapt instant messaging services. As opposed to a text message, messages exchanged via instant messaging services like Viber and WhatsApp address not-so-basic needs such as group chat, support for high-resolution media among other features.

That is where Rich Communication Services (RCS) programs come in. They address these shortcomings of basic text messages and provide support for emoticons, location sharing, and exchanging files. The system has been under development for several years, and Jibe Mobile was a company that basically dedicated itself to make the system a priority, and make it implementable on modern smartphones. On the other hand, Google has wanted to push RCS adoption on Android, its smartphone operating system, for a while now; hence the acquisition. The operating system is already content rich with its support for a plethora of applications like games, functionality apps and content transfer apps like SmartIOApp and more. However, this move would help Android improve its basic phone functions.