Google buys mobile sharing app Bump

Bump for iOS (iPhone screenshot 001)

In the early days of the App Store, Bump was a popular way to exchange photos, links and other items between iPhone owners, augmented by the fact that iOS to date doesn’t support standard Bluetooth file sharing.

Six years later, we have AirDrop as the preferred method of beaming documents, images and just about anything between nearby iOS 7 device.

Be that as it may, if an Android-toting friend asks you politely to wirelessly transfer a photo you took with your iPhone – or a contact card or perhaps a location – over to his device, the cross-platform Bump app is still the best solution.

To all the fans of the software out there:  I hope you won’t mind that Google has now snapped up Bump Technologies and its namesake app for an undisclosed sum – the search monster’s first acquisition since it paid $1 billion for Waze back in June…

Bump CEO and co-founder David Lieb broke the news, writing in a company blog post he “couldn’t be more thrilled to join Google”. His entire team will be coming aboard at Google and both the Bump and Flock app will continue to work as they always have – “for now”.

Although the post doesn’t reveal the value of the transaction, it’s worth pointing out that Bump raised nearly $20 million in years past. Its investors included the unavoidable Marc Andreessen along with the usual suspects: Sequoia Capital, Y Combinator, SV Angel, Sherpalo and Felicia.

I’m not sure I like the sound of “for now” and the “stay tuned for future updates” part gives me plenty of reasons to believe that Google might shut down the software and fold its file sharing features into Android.

“Our mission at Bump has always been to build the simplest tools for sharing the information you care about with other people and devices,” the post reads. “We strive to create experiences that feel like magic, enabled behind the scene with innovations in math, data processing, and algorithms”.

Download Bump free from the App Store.

Note to Google: leave my apps alone!

Are you sad to see Bump acquired by Google?

If you’ve been an avid user, what’s your experience with the software been like so far?

I have Bump on my iPhone and have only used it a few times, really.

If I’m at a party with friends who have non-iPhone devices and they need something kept on my device, I just email it to them.