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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Google acquire Nik Software to rival Instagram

Google Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG) declared that it purchased Instagram rival, Nik Software that makes award-winning photo editing software, Snapseed for an unrevealed amount.

Facebook and Google are involved in a battle for social network users that has gradually shifted to mobile applications, like photo editing.

Snapseed may not be as popular as Instagram that is available on Apple’s mobile devices for free, but it sure has won appreciation for its editing expertise among photographers.

Nik software revealed that Snapseed has more than 9 million users whereas Instagram claims to have more than 100 million users.

Google’s senior vice president, engineering, Vic Gundotra said that the firm wants to help its users create photos they like and that Nik does it better than anything else.

Facebook purchased Instagram this year that made an app for users to add effects and filters to images that are taken on their smartphones for $1 billion.

Collin Gills, BCG Partners analyst said that Google is playing to cope up in the field of social networking and Snapseed is another tuck to boost Google+ offering.

Snapseed had won Apple’s iPad App of the year honour in 2011, for its multitouch photo editing interface.

Nik software declared on its official site that the company has always aspired to share passion for photography with everyone and with the help of Google, it hopes to help millions of people create exceptional pictures.

Gundotra also mentioned that Google+ has hit 400 million users this week. It has just exceeded 100 million monthly active users.

Critics are likely to point out that Google still feels like a ghost town. When compared to 955 million monthly active users of Facebook, Google+ still lags behind the social networking giant by a huge margin. Gundotra says Google is faring well considering the fact that it was launched just a year back.

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