FullContact, a startup that offers a business card scanner and a unified digital address book for Gmail, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other online services, has acquired Cobook for an undisclosed amount.
Cobook offers its own unified address book apps for the Mac, iPhone and iPad. These products will remain unchanged for the time being, although the Cobook team is moving to Denver, where its new owner is based, to work on future versions under the FullContact brand. Cobook and its contact book apps will therefore live on, albeit under a slightly different guise.
“With the acquisition of Cobook, the plan is to provide our users with the same unified address book capabilities on iPhone, iPad and Mac,” FullContact chief executive Bart Lorang said. “Together, we’ll eventually provide users a seamless contact management experience on any device.”
Cobook redesigned its iOS app in July last year, introducing a store for new services such as Foursquare, Instagram and Xing. As part of the acquisition announced today, Cobook chief executive Kaspars Dancis will become product manager for FullContact’s address book platform. “Sometimes in business, like in life, things just make sense,” he said.
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The move is a logical one, given that it helps FullContact to better serve Apple customers, while also allowing Cobook to expand beyond its existing apps. While many firms have tried to solve the business card and address book problem, few have gained the critical mass that’s necessary to become a preferred and widely adopted service. Together, FullContact and Cobook stand a much better chance of doing just that.
➤ FullContact | Cobook
Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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