Google Cloud Platform acquiring API maker Firebase
Google has acquired API maker Firebase, which will be headed to the Cloud Platform unit.
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Founded in 2011 in San Francisco, Firebase set itself up to help developers build collaborative mobile and web apps through an API storing and syncing data in real-time.
Up through now, Firebase has championed itself as remaining platform-agnostic, offering full-featured libraries for "all major web and mobile platforms and bindings for the most popular frameworks." Naturally, that includes Android.
Greg DeMichillie, director of product management for Google Cloud Platform, noted in a blog post on Tuesday that the purchase of Firebase feeds into Google's goal to build a complete end-to-end platform for mobile application development.
DeMichillie explained:
Mobile is one of the fastest-growing categories of app development, but it’s also still too hard for most developers. With Firebase, developers are able to easily sync data across web and mobile apps without having to manage connections or write complex sync logic.
A Google spokesperson declined to comment on terms of the deal.
The entire Firebase team will be moving over to Google, remaining under the leadership of Firebase co-founders James Tamplin and Andrew Lee.
Tamplin, also Firebase's CEO, followed up in a separate memo, promising users that with "Google’s engineering talent, resources, and technical infrastructure, we’ll be able to do much more, much faster."
Google could also be getting a whole slew of new developers for Cloud Platform at the same time. Firebase boasted that it has served more than 110,000 developers over the last three years.
"Firebase developers will gain access to a powerful cloud infrastructure suite, and Cloud Platform customers will gain access to our rapid development capabilities," Tamplin promised.
For the time being, current Firebase users shouldn't notice any changes and can continue to use the service.
Firebase is likely to garner more time in the spotlight in a few weeks at Google Cloud Platform Live in San Francisco on November 4.