Facebook has acquired Face.com, the facial recognition software company whose products power Facebook's photo tagging suggestions, according to a blog post.
Rumors of the acquisition began to circulate in late May.
Face.com also provides branded Facebook apps. Photo Tagger is very similar to the native Facebook app, while Photo Finder, the company's first app, helps users find untagged photos of themselves. Face.com offers an API (application programming interface) that powers third-party apps including CelebrityFindr, which allows users to search for photos of celebrities on Twitter using facial recognition technology.
According to the announcement, Face.com will continue to support third party developers.
"Now, lots of developers use Face.com technology to power various apps and make wonderful products...[T]he plan is to continue to support our developer community," the blog post read.
Although the announcement did not reveal any specifics about what Facebook will do with the app company, the blog post hints that Facebook may look to tailor Face.com's technology to craft a mobile experience.
"We love building products, and like our friends at Facebook, we think that mobile is a critical part of people's lives as they both create and consume content, and share content with their social graph. By working with Facebook directly, and joining their team, we'll have more opportunities to build amazing products that will be employed by consumers."
Facebook revealed shortly before its lackluster IPO that it was not yet monetising mobile users as effectively as it does desktop users.
IDG News Service