April 24 (Bloomberg) — Facebook Inc. has acquired mobile-fitness application Moves, as the social network jumps into the increasingly popular fitness-tracking market.

Moves, which is operated by Finnish company ProtoGeo Oy, makes an app that works on Apple Inc. iOS devices and those that run on Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating system. The app lets people gather data from a smartphone's accelerometer to determine whether a user is walking, running or doing other physical activities. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Facebook has been increasingly assembling a portfolio of mobile properties, including photo-sharing app Instagram and an agreement earlier this year to acquire text messaging app WhatsApp Inc. With Move, the Menlo Park, California-based company now gets a piece of the burgeoning fitness and health app market that companies including Nike Inc. and Fitbit Inc. have explored. Mobile devices are typically always carried around by their users, making them ideal gadgets to gather data and track activity of their owners.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.