Google Picks Up FlexyCore, Makers of DroidBooster

Though there hasn't been much news of late about acquisitions for Google, one new purchase emerged for Google recently, who picked up FlexyCore, the company behind the DroidBooster system. The terms of the deal are a bit shaky, but the purpose behind the deal seems extremely clear as Google is likely out to shore up the Android user experience and give users plenty of added value.

The reports suggest that Google picked up FlexyCore for $23 million, though confirmation of said value was short on the ground. There's some further good news as the entire FlexyCore team will reportedly be picked up by Google's Android team to put some further punch into the larger Google interface. That's a fairly big commitment from Google, though based on what FlexyCore makes, it's a smart idea, and one that's likely to pay dividends for Google in the long term.

FlexyCore's biggest product, at last report, is its “DroidBooster” system, an app that is said to improve the performance of Android devices, sufficiently to make said devices run “ten times faster” than without. That's a pretty tall order, but given that FlexyCore not only has a profile on the ARM partner site but also boasts as its founder Texas Instruments' former head of R&D, the thought that the company might indeed have an app that boosts an Android device's performance by impressive levels really isn't out of line.

A report from “Ars Technica” suggests that DroidBooster works by creating “heavily optimized ARM binaries from Android's normal Dalvik code,” and in turn will not only boost overall capability, but also improve battery life. The reasoning behind that assertion, meanwhile, comes from a bit of deductive reasoning: if the device processes at a higher rate, then it can spend less time processing instructions and more time in a low-power state, which means less draw on the battery in turn.

While Android is one of the biggest names in mobile devices, it's a safe bet that the sheer number of competitors in the field is not lost on Google as a whole. Apple has a huge user base, and then there's the issue of Windows Phone coming into a greater popularity. In order for Android to hold on to that major slice of the pie, it has to continually prove its value to the huge user base that's involved in its systems. If Android can incorporate DroidBooster into standard systems, and then refine from there, the sheer power of such a system may well keep users interested, but potentially even pull still more users from Windows Phone and even Apple. A better user interface often translates into a better user experience, and that in turn regularly translates into users that stick around, tell friends, and potentially even help bring new users into the fold.

Just what Google will do with DroidBooster and the FlexyCore team remains to be seen, but in the long term, it could well be the start of some very big things to come for Google.