In an effort to bolster their own Rich Communication Services (RCS), Google has acquired Jibe Mobile, a leader in the space. For those who don’t know, RCS is a new standard that is being rapidly adopted by mobile carriers as an they look to provide richer content than SMS can provide. RCS allows you to do things like group messaging and high resolution photos and Google is working closely with the mobile industry to help get this new service enacted.
In a post on the Official Android Blog, Google outlines that the acquisition of Jibe Mobile will help them continue this adoption work and will build upon what Jibe Mobile has already built in this space.
The blog outlines the importance of RCS to carriers as well as to Google who is helping carriers with the adoption of the service.
Many leaders in the wireless industry have already put great work into laying the foundation for RCS, and we’ve heard from many of them that there are ways Android can help. We’re excited to team up with mobile operators, device makers and the rest of the Android ecosystem to support RCS standards and help accelerate their deployment in a more consistent way. We’re already working closely with many of our partners on implementing RCS, and look forward to growing the RCS ecosystem together.
For Jibe Mobile’s part, they have posted on their site a thank you to everyone who has worked with them and are excited to be joining the Google team.
I want to thank all our customers, directors/advisors, and investors/lenders for not only supporting but keeping us focused. They’ve been partners in this journey — not idle watchers on the sidelines — looking out for the best interests of the entire industry.
We probably won’t see the fruits of this acquisition immediately but eventually all of us will benefit from the adoption of RCS as a standard for messaging for carriers.
