• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, August 12, 2013

Facebook on Monday said it has acquired Mobile Technologies, which specializes in speech recognition technology and makes the Jibbigo voice translation app. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Voice technology has become an increasingly important way for people to navigate mobile devices and the web, and this technology will help us evolve our products to match that evolution. We believe this acquisition is an investment in our long-term product roadmap as we continue towards our company's mission,” stated Facebook’s tom Stocky in a blog post today.

While this looks like another “acqui-hire” focused on talent and technology, Facebook will continue to support the Jibbigo app for now, according to a TechCrunch report. Billed as an “interpreter in your pocket,” the free app provide translation for more than 20 languages and has earned a 3.5 star-rating in the App Store.

Members of Mobile Technology’s engineering team are expected join Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters. Whether the company started in 2001 will maintain its Pittsburgh headquarters wasn’t immediately clear.

Given that Facebook has more than 1 billion users across the globe, it’s not hard to imagine it using the speech and translation technology to benefit communication among its users or with others offline. The deals also further underlines Facebook’s commitment to becoming a mobile-focused company, with 41% of its ad revenue last quarter coming from mobile advertising.