A lot of the discussion of Jaiku’s acquisition by Google seems to see Jaiku as a competitor to twitter. For example, Mashable.com says:
This is somewhat surprising news considering the perceived dominance of Twitter in the so-called “lifestreaming” space. Additionally, Twitter is co-founded by Evan Williams, who was the creator of Blogger, which was previously acquired by Google. In a world where price is no object for Google, it’s interesting that they would opt for Jaiku and not Twitter.
The answer seems pretty obvious to me. Jaiku isn’t a “lifestreaming” company per se. They are a mobile company in the business of creating smarter presence applications. Far from being a runner up behind twitter, they are a leader in a category most people haven’t fully grasped yet. Google is clearly thinking a lot about mobile, and so they do grasp it.
(For more info on what I find most exciting about Jaiku, see I Love My iPhone, but bah…no Jaiku.)