Mozilla Buys Bookmarking App Pocket Pocket will operate as a Mozilla subsidiary, alongside Firefox.
This story originally appeared on PCMag
Mozilla on Monday announced it has acquired Read It Later, developers of the popular bookmarking service Pocket, for an undisclosed sum. Mozilla said the transaction represents its first strategic acquisition.
For the browser maker, the buy is all about increasing its presence on mobile devices. Pocket boasts 10 million unique monthly active users on iOS, Android and the web. To date, those users have saved more than 3 billion pieces of content using the service.
Pocket will now operate as a Mozilla subsidiary, alongside Firefox, as it focuses on "promoting the discovery and accessibility of high quality web content," Mozilla's Denelle Dixon-Thayer wrote in a blog post. Mozilla is also relying on Pocket's team and technology to accelerate its Context Graph initiative to build a "recommender system" for the web.
"Pocket provides people with the tools they need to engage with and share content on their own terms independent of hardware platform or content silo, for a safer, more empowered and independent online experience," Mozilla CEO Chris Beard said in a statement.
The acquisition spun out of a partnership to build Pocket into Firefox. The integration, launched in June 2015, brought a Pocket button to the Firefox toolbar that lets you save content for later. Mozilla's Denelle Dixon-Thayer said that the companies "developed a shared vision" over the past year while working together on the integration.
"We look forward to working more closely together to support the ongoing growth of Pocket and to create great new products that people love in support of our shared mission," Pocket CEO Nate Weiner said in a statement.
