Google is no stranger to acquiring other companies, either for their talent or for the product itself. If it weren’t for Google’s good eye for fresh companies that have excellent ideas and vision, we wouldn’t be using the Android that we all know and love today. Google purchased Android back in August 2005, and since then Google has purchased numerous innovative companies, with one of their most recent being the purchase of Nest. Now, it looks like Google could be looking to add another ad company to their portfolio, as reports come in that the search giant is eyeing up Indian startup InMobi.
India’s Economic Times is reporting that Google and InMobi are in talks to reach some sort of agreement which could see Google purchasing the firm for $1 Billion. You might be wondering who InMobi are, well, they’re a company that was founded in India back in 2007 and have since risen to become one of the biggest providers of ads to app and games on Android. Many of the ads you see in your apps and games could have been developed using tools from InMobi. While advertizing constitutes the vast majority of Google’s income, they’re facing stiff competition from Facebook. The social network has a huge captive audience online every day, and they’ve finally figured out how to leverage this opportunity for ads. Google isn’t happy to just sit back and let Facebook overtake them though, and the purchase of InMobi could further their hold on mobile advertizing for apps and games.
This would be the second high-profile acquisition of an Indian firm by a Silicon Valley giant in recent months, as Twitter recently acquired India’s ZipDial for roughly $30 Million earlier this year. Whether or not the deal goes ahead remains to be seen, but it’d be interesting to see what effect such a deal would have on Google’s advertizing tactics when it comes to mobile apps and games. These are interesting times ahead for Google, as advertizing desperately tries to embrace mobile without alienating users in their droves.