Facebook purchases Israeli start-up

Facebook is purchasing its first Israeli company, a start-up called Snaptu.

Facebook will pay an estimated $60 million to $70 million, according to reports citing market sources. The deal is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks.

The company, established in 2007 with offices in London, Tel Aviv and northern California’s Silicon Valley, has developed applications that allow mobile phones, including simpler phones below the level of an iPhone, to access the mobile Internet. The applications could apply to about 80 percent of all mobile phones in use around the world.