Google Acquires Jambool; Dominates Social Networks Gaming Currencies

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Last week, TMCnet’s David Sims reported industry observer David Kaplan had noted that Google (News - Alert) “is set to make another not-so-small acquisition, this time for virtual currency company Jambool,” citing TechCrunch reports saying the price is “estimated to be around $70 million, including earnouts.” It appears Kaplan was right on target with his prediction. According to a PC World report, Jambool, a company that makes the platform for managing online payments for virtual goods sold on gaming and social networking sites is now the property of Google.

The developers of Social Gold, Jambool’s currency can be used within applications for websites such as Facebook. Considering Google’s enhanced focus on the social networking world and desire to overtake Facebook (News - Alert) in the market, this purchase makes sense. Since its launch in 2008, the Social Gold platform has enjoyed strong success, especially this year. According to Jambool, it processed more than double the payment value in the first half of 2010 than it did in all of 2009.

The announcement was first made on Friday on the Jambool website, although terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. Google did make a statement and said, "We are committed to offering consumers and merchants innovative digital payment solutions and Jambool will help Google evolve our payments offering and expand into digital goods and content.""We've welcomed hundreds of developers to our platform," according to the Google post. "The fact that our highest revenue day was in the last week attests to the continued growth of online gaming."

One of the biggest draws for Google is that Jambool offers the only platform with an API that has the ability to manage purchases done in a Flash-based game during game play and for first-time users without details yet on record. Each transaction is charged 10 percent by Jambool, although that fee goes down to 7 percent if a client is processing a minimum of $25,000 per month.

According to Jambool, the Social Gold platform is PCI (News - Alert) (Payment Card Industry) Security Standards Council Level 1 compliant, the industry’s highest rating. The high standard is the result of a combination of algorithmic detection, analytics and human verification to control and manage fraud."We are thrilled to be part of Google, and we look forward to the exciting road ahead," the company said in a statement.

In other Google news, the company faced a raid by police officers in South Korea of the Google offices looking for proof as to whether or not the company had illegally collected and stored personal wireless data. Google is claiming no foul, yet an investigation in pending in the country.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Ed Silverstein

(source: http://ipcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/ip-communications/articles/95397-google-acquires-jambool-dominates-social-networks-gaming-currencies.htm)

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