Twitter buys developers of GeoAPI

From CNET News.com: Twitter is usually the subject of steamy acquisition rumors, but chose perhaps the deadest afternoon of the business year to announce that it has made an acquisition of its own.

Twitter has bought Mixer Labs, the company that created the GeoAPI location service for developers building application atop Twitter. Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter, announced the acquisition on the company's blog, saying "when current location is added to tweets, new and valuable services emerge--everything from breaking news to finding friends or local businesses can be dramatically enhanced."

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it would appear Twitter is putting some of that money it now gets from Google and Microsoft to work. Elad Gil, the co-founder and CEO of Mixer Labs, is a veteran of Google and McKinsey, saying on his company bio that he co-founded Google's Mobile team. Seven employees are listed on Mixer Labs' "About" page, but that might not be an exhaustive list.

Twitter acquired Summize in July 2008, but the company has made few acquisitions, instead fending off perpetual rumors that Google, Microsoft, or another tech heavyweight is poised to snap up the company. Geo-location is definitely one of the hotter segments among the social-media butterflies, with companies like Foursquare and Gowalla drawing significant attention.

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