Nik Software has just announced that Google is buying the company, which makes the popular iOS photography application Snapseed, for an undisclosed amount. The move gives Google more powerful imaging technology, putting the company in prime position to compete with Facebook and Instagram in the mobile photo filtering and editing arena.
While not as popular as Instagram, Snapseed has received several praises, including being named the iPad App of the Year in 2011 by Apple and the Best Mobile Photo App of 2012 by the Technical Image Press Association. Snapseed has an overall 4.5 star rating on the App Store, and was downloaded over 9 million times in the first year it was available.
Snapseed was working on an Android app as well, and even showed off a demo version of Snapseed for Android back in January which has yet to see an Android release. With a purchase by Google under its belt, we may see the service finally launch on the Play Store, though we’ll more likely see the technology built into Google+ to capitalize on the service’s 400+ million users.
“We are pleased to announce that Google has acquired Nik Software. For nearly 17 years, we’ve been guided by our motto, “photography first”, as we worked to build world class digital image editing tools. We’ve always aspired to share our passion for photography with everyone, and with Google’s support we hope to be able to help many millions more people create awesome pictures.
We’re incredibly grateful for all of your support and hope you’ll join us on the next phase of our journey as part of Google. All our best!” – The Nik Software Team
We’ve reached out to Google for comment on the acquisition, and will update this post if the company responds. Regardless, we should learn more about what will come out of the deal in coming weeks.
[via The Verge, Nik Software]