Facebook, Beluga to work on "new and better ways to communicate”March 7, 2011 - 10:19 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Social networking website, Facebook has brought the mobile messaging software vendor, Beluga for an undisclosed amount, in a move which could suggest that Facebook is looking for cheaper alternatives to plain text messaging for some of its mobile services. According to cellular-news, Beluga and Facebook will work together on "new and better ways to communicate and share group experiences," Beluga said in a short notice on its web site. "We're excited to continue to build our vision for mobile group messaging as part of the Facebook team." Speculation is rife that Facebook will try to use its huge 500 million customer base as a marketing lever to put the Beluga platform into more handsets for messaging services and thus bypass the mobile networks own SMS platforms. Facebook has been on a small spending spree over the past year buying up mobile apps developers and platforms as it sees mobile services as its main driver of growth in developing markets. However, at the moment, the Beluga software only works on Apple and Android smartphones and it would need to develop a J2ME based platform to be able to reach the mass-market of entry-level handsets. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Viva-MTS: Tech solutions to modernize infrastructure of border village The border village has been the focus of Viva-MTS and the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Values since 2015. “By Your Side”: IDBank's new support program for displaced Artsakh citizens IDBank is launching a long-term social support program for forcibly displaced Artsakh residents. The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. |