Google acquires iOS photo app Snapseed
updated 12:08 pm EDT, Mon September 17, 2012
Snapseed could see Google+ integration
In a post on the company blog today, Nik Software, developer of iOS photo editing/sharing app Snapseed, announced that it had been acquired by Google. According to The Verge, the acquisition will see Nik's Snapseed developers relocating to Google headquarters in Mountain View in order to work directly on Google's social layer, Google+. The future of Snapspeed's iOS app, which provides image editing and sharing capabilities in a manner similar to Facebook's Instagram, is as yet unknown.
Aside from Snapseed, Nik produces noise reduction application Dfine, selective color editing application Viveza, and five other offerings for both Mac and PC platforms. Snapseed, though, is thought to be the main focus of the deal. Integrating Snapseed into Google+ would give Google another means by which to compete with Facebook, which purchased popular photo sharing app Instagram earlier this year for $1 billion.
Observers note that the rest of Nik's software could be rolled into Google+ as well, with Snapseed serving as a portal to a larger image editing suite. Google has been working to heighten Google+'s attractiveness as a portal for photographers, improving its photo management systems and organizing photography conferences to promote the site.
MacNN Staff
Joined: 08-04-01
Terrible news. Snapseed is one of the best photo-editing apps out there for iOS and OS X, since it (wisely) offers both strong traditional editing tools AS WELL AS the silly effects the Instagram people seem to require.
Now it will just be absorbed into Google+ (nobody's on) and maybe into making Picasa less awful.
Pity.