Google Acquires Jaiku

By Doug Caverly - Tue, 10/09/2007 - 2:03pm.

Well, it was bound to happen: Google has finally made another acquisition, and this time, the lucky target was a company known as Jaiku.

Jaiku, which was founded by Jyri Engeström and Petteri Koponen, offers a Twitter-like service. Reviews of the service have been extremely positive, and Google appears ready to leave well enough alone at the moment.

Yet Tony Hsieh, a product manager, made a strange comment on the Official Google Blog. “Although we don’t have definite plans to announce at this time, we’re excited about helping drive the next round of developments in web and mobile technology,” he wrote.

Talk about mixed signals. Could the “next round of developments” relate to the Gphone? Or is the “lack of definite plans” just a sign of the same disinterest that led to Dodgeball’s semi-demise? Also, new signups are no longer being allowed by Jaiku - this could point to either big behind-the-scenes stuff or total stagnation.

One more fuzzy point: terms of the deal have not been disclosed, so it’s impossible to say how much of a financial commitment Google made to the acquisition.