• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 18, 2017

Google has acquired Fabric, one of Twitter’s assets that provides software for developers to build mobile apps.

Francis Ma, Firebase product manager at Google, and Rich Paret, VP of engineering and GM at Fabric, jointly made the news public in separate blogs posted on their respective company's Web sites. Neither have disclosed the financial terms of the deal.

Twitter acquired the company in 2014. Fabric's reach has grown to 2.5 billion active mobile devices in the past two years since Twitter acquired the company, according to a Paret.  

"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," Paret wrote.

Crashlytics, which tracks software failures, and Answers, which supports mobile app analytics, also comes along as part of the deal. Digits, which will be maintained by Twitter through the transition period, under its existing terms.

As an add-on to Google Firebase business, the apps aim to help developers earn higher returns from iOS, Android and Web products. And with the acquisition, the focus turns to cloud computing and mobile advertising.

Firebase, a cloud-based mobile software tool Google acquired in 2014, will become a broader developer platform. Firebase also gives mobile app creators tools to build and monitor their apps.

The goal is to free developers from the complexity associated with software development, Ma wrote in a blog post. With this integration, Fabric becomes part of Google's long-term effort of delivering a comprehensive suite of features for iOS, Android and mobile Web app development.

This move could also give Google a firm step to move into China. While Twitter isn't in China, reports suggest that both Alibaba and Baidu are both users of the software.