Google takes on Instagram and Facebook by acquiring top iOS photo app Snapseed
Google has agreed to acquire Nik Software, the German developer of photography app Snapseed, for an undisclosed amount. Sources close to the deal tell The Verge that while Nik Software produces all sorts …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is Google's second swing at owning photo-editing technology: it bought online editor Picnik back in March 2010, and today it has agreed to acquire Germany's Nik Software, maker of the top-ranked iOS app Snapseed, for an undisclosed amount. The timing is deliberate — Google folded the announcement into the same briefing where it claimed Google+ had passed 400 million registered users and 100 million monthly actives, framing Snapseed explicitly as a weapon against Instagram and Facebook in mobile photo sharing.
The story travelled unusually wide for an undisclosed-sum deal, with pickups at TechCrunch, CNET, ZDNet, PC World, Fast Company, iMore and The Verge — whose own companion piece reads the acquisition as another instance of Google buying startups to stay sharp against rivals.
First-order effects
- Google gains a critically acclaimed, iOS-first mobile editing app plus Nik's professional imaging technology, giving Google+ a credible answer to Instagram's filter-driven appeal without building one from scratch.
- Nik Software's team and product line move under Google ownership immediately, while Facebook — skipping its F8 developer conference this year — faces a rival arming up on its home turf of mobile photos.
Second-order effects
- Instagram and Facebook are pushed to compete on editing depth rather than network size alone, since Google+ can now bundle serious capture-to-share tooling with a 100-million-monthly-active social graph.
- Apple's iOS ecosystem becomes contested ground between two Android-platform owners: Google is investing in a flagship iPhone app even as it objects to partners like Acer building phones on rival operating systems.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, mobile photo sharing consolidates around platform owners who acquire best-of-breed apps to differentiate their networks — making independent photo apps acquisition targets or casualties, and turning editing software into a social-network feature rather than a standalone business.
The trend: Consumer platforms are acquiring standalone mobile photo apps to arm their social networks in the escalating contest with Facebook and Instagram.