• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, March 1, 2011

Facebook has acquired mobile developer Beluga in a move aimed at enhancing the social network's growing mobile presence, according to a TechCrunch report confirmed by the companies. Founded by a team of ex-Google engineers, Beluga has created an app that lets groups of friends communicate in real-time on the go. Competitors in the group messaging space include TextPlus and GroupMe.

In a statement, Facebook said Beluga would continue to operate as it does today pending the release of more details in the coming weeks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Facebook has more than 200 million mobile users across its apps for the iPhone, Android and other smartphone platforms as well as its SMS and Facebook Zero cell phone offerings.