Discontinuing soon, Bump is the latest in Google’s acquisition graveyard
Summary
Bump, the mobile app that gained traction nearly four years ago for its “magical” information transfer when two phones touched each other, seemed poised for greatness at the early dawn of the smartphone era. But the app struggled after its initial popularity, which eventually led creator Bump Technologies to accept an acquisition offer from Google in September. “On January 31, 2014, Bump and Flock will be removed from the App Store and Google Play. Celebrity communication app Wavii also promptly closed its product after the company announced its acquisition deal with Google in April, just one countless other examples. Despite both Bump and Wavii’s shutdowns, two of Google’s bigger acquisitions this year still support their original products: Gesture-control software Flutter, acquired in October, still supports its Mac version (although rumors have bubbled that newer versions and products have been waylaid), and high-profile real-time maps app Waze, which Google acquired in June for more than $1 billion, still regularly receives updates and support.