The social networking, Facebook, have purchased the messaging company WhatsApp in a deal worth $19 Billion in total. WhatsApp is a pretty much free (users pay 99p/year) messaging service with around 450 million monthly active users around the world. The service has become extremely popular due to its almost universal compatibility - it's available on iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian (Nokia) and Windows phone.
Google Ramps Up It's Product Business with Nest Labs
Google has announced plans to purchase the smart thermostat company Nest Labs for £2 billion ($3.2 billion). Nest Labs creates a smart thermostat that learns your routine, can understand when the house is empty, and can be controlled via a smartphone, thus bringing cost and energy savings. Another recently released product is a smoke detector called Nest Protect which has numerous features that make is distinct from regular smoke detectors such as alerts to your phone.
In interviews the company founder and CEO, who was previously an Apple Executive, has said that Nest will be run separate to Google but can now use it's huge resources to improve their products faster.
Their acquisition of Nest Labs really proves that Google is becoming more of a products company with it's sights set on automation and machine learning.
This is the latest in a series of recent acquisitions by Google including robotics firm Boston Dynamics and Motorola.
Who's next up for Google? Leave your thoughts below.