Facebook announced a billion-dollar-deal to buy the startup behind wildly popular smartphone photo sharing application Instagram.
The big ticket purchase was seen by some as a move by Facebook to strengthen defenses against Google and blazingly hot newcomer Pinterest in the weeks ahead of what promises to be a history-making stock market debut.
"For years, we've focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family," Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in announcing the deal.
"Now, we'll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests."
Zuckerberg called the acquisition "an important milestone for Facebook because it's the first time we've ever acquired a product and company with so many users" but promised it was a rare acquisition.
An Instagram application tuned to Apple's iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices has been downloaded more than 30 million times since the first version was released in late 2010 by the San Francisco startup.
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