Facebook Buys Spool- Why?

Over the weekend, several reports came out saying that Facebook was buying Spool. Spool is a mobile-oriented social bookmarking service that started in 2010 and launched an app that allowed to you access web content via your mobile phone. No big deal, right? …Actually, the app contains a technology that is quite valuable to Facebook. Spool had built its own media-distribution network using servers and caching media content. The approach to cache and share content wasn’t only for web page content, but videos and other media could be accessed within the Spool app as well - instantly or saved for offline viewing.

Facebook is attracted to the media content sharing content, which could potentially be used as part of their infrastructure for its web and mobile apps. The company is looking to launch an iOS optimized app, but will need to overcome many obstacles to provide a seamless experience.

Many other companies presented offers to Spool (Dropbox, Google, and Twitter) but, alas, Facebook offered the most money.

(Source: gigaom.com)