Remember Bump, that nifty little app that let you transfer data from phone to phone — or phone to computer — with a handy little NFC-free bump? Well now it belongs to Google.
Bump/touch-to-share has always been a little bit of a novelty, mainly because most variations — like those built-in to Samsung’s Galaxy phones — rely on NFC to get the job done. Bump, instead, just relies on both users having the Bump app, while the synchronisation happens in the background thanks to some fancy cloud-syncing magic. Now, with a Google acquisition, it might not be long until that feature is built right into vanilla Android.
In fact, Google’s got a little catching up to do considering that AirDrop — a similar easy-share feature — is coming baked into iOS 7, at least for more recent handsets.
Sharing data between phones directly without some sort of social media middleman or obnoxious number-exchange has always been a little more complicated than it feels like it should be. And solutions like Bump have been offering simpler alternatives. The only thing that’s left is to have something become the de facto standard so there’s no “hey just get this app” before the bumping begins. And being built right into Android sure seems like the way to get that done. [Bump via TechCrunch]