Google has reportedly acquired ‘Emu,’ an innovative mobile messaging application paired with a built-in virtual assistant.
Emu announced the acquisition news in a blog post on Wednesday which said that the Emu iPhone app will no longer be available in the App Store, and that existing users won’t be able to send, receive, or download messages with effect from August 25, 2014. The company said its team is quite excited about the acquisition.
Emu was co-founded by CEO Gummi Hafsteinsson, , who worked on Google’s Maps and Voice Search services, and was one of the leads behind Apple’s Siri virtual assistant. The mobile messaging app was originally launched for Android but was eventually expanded to iPhone in April.
Touted as “texting with a built-in assistant” application, Emu searched a user’s data and conversations to offer them recommendations on restaurants, reviews and other items as per their interests.
The app also allowed for setting reminders, sharing location, or making reservations at a restaurant right from within a conversation.
The app also allowed users to set up a “magic reply” to inform people that they were driving and couldn’t immediately respond.
It is expected that Google might use Emu’s technology to bolster Hangouts and Google Now features, which includes the ability to schedule things and share data, as the technology could enable the company to streamline different services into a single product.
Financial details of the deal have not yet been disclosed.
