Google Acquires Twitter's Mobile App Developer Platform

Google is taking over Fabric, Twitter’s mobile app developer platform, as well as its Crashlytics crash reporting system, Answers mobile app analytics, Digits SMS login system, and FastLane development automation system.

Twitter launched Fabric as a modular SDK in 2014 to allow developers to pick and choose different tools to improve their apps, and it now serves apps reaching 2.5 billion users built by 580,000 developers.

But as Twitter tries to get into better financial shape, it’s cutting non-essential divisions, as it did with its change from Vine to Vine Camera.

According to TechCrunch, by passing the platform off to Google, it can remove the costs of running Fabric without screwing over its developers by suddenly shutting it down.

Google will continue to operate Fabric and its related tools, and developers shouldn’t have to do anything to support the transition.

Twitter tells me it will continue to run and invesit in its other developer-facing products such as its Publisher Platfrom, Twitter Kit, Gnip, TweetDeck, plus its Public APIs and Ads APIs because they are tied directly to its core business and align with its priorities for 2017
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The Fabric team announced (Wednesday) “Today we enter the next chapter for Fabric and are pleased to announce that we’ve signed an agreement for Fabric to be acquired by Google and for our team to join Google’s Developer Products Group, working with the Firebase team.” Google’s Firebase product manager Francis Ma writes “Our missions align closely: help developers build better apps and grow their business.”

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and Twitter refused to provide more detail upon request. Digits shall remain under Twitter’s control during the transition period.

Crashlytics will become Firebase’s main crash reporting tool. Founded in 2011, Twitter acquired Crashlytics in 2013 for $38.2 million. After six years, co-founder Jeff Seibert will be stepping back from Crashlytics, which will now be led by Twitter’s VP of engineering Rich Paret.

While Twitter initially charged for enterprise access to tools like Crashlytics and Answers, it later made them free.

The strategy seemed to be that if more developers were part of the Twitter ecosystem, they’d build apps that piggyback on the microblogging service and provide it with extra functionality and platform lock-in.

But that strategy may have proved too indirect for Twitter as it tries to cut losses, which were $103 million in Q3 2016.

Facebook similarly shut down its Parse mobile development platform last year.