Google Acquires Finnish Startup to Address Smartphone Fragmentation

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The Motorola Moto X smartphone.

Image: Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

By Jason Abbruzzese2014-07-23 13:25:56 UTC

Google has acquired a Finnish firm specializing in mobile 3D graphics analytics, a move that will help the search giant tailor its software to a variety of hardware smartphone options.

The startup, drawElements, focuses on figuring out how to optimize complex graphics for various pieces of mobile hardware.

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"We’re excited to announce that we’re joining Google. Thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way; we’re grateful for your support," the company posted on the front page of its website. "Over the next few months, we’ll be working with our colleagues on the Android team to incorporate some of our technology into the compatibility test suite. Stay tuned!"

Google did not immediately respond to request for comment.

As mobile devices have increased in complexity, the hardware used in them has also become more varied. This problem is known as fragmentation, which can allow for flexibility in choices of what goes into a phone but also frustration for developers trying to create programs that run on these systems.

Google has had a particular issue around this in its Android products, wrote Elliotte Bowerman, vice president of marketing at software firm Sourcebits, in a recent blog post on LinkedIn.

"Mobile devices change rapidly and vary wildly, but that can appeal to people looking for a specific set of hardware features," Bowerman added. "With the endless parade of hardware choices, Android’s fragmentation is both a blessing and a curse for developers."

Matthew Panzarino wrote on The Next Web that the issue has had an impact on people trying to make software for Android.

"Android fragmentation is a huge problem. The fact that there are hundreds of different hardware devices running over half a dozen different versions of Google’s OS makes it annoying for users, but makes it an especially devastating issue for developers trying to make a business out of the Android ecosystem," he wrote.

The acquisition of drawElements will help Google address this issue, Dmitri Sarle wrote on ArcticStartup , a blog that tracks startups in the Baltic and Nordic companies.

"We are not talking about performance or speed benchmarks, which can be done by the likes of Futuremark," Sarle wrote. "Instead, they need a closer look at quality of implementation, stability, correctness. If Google can check that, they can then whip all the manufacturers into place and set standards. drawElements can do exactly that."

Financial details of the deal had not been released, although ArcticStartup believes it to be in the eight-figure range.

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Topics: Business, smartphone, Startups