Google Buys Nik Software, Maker Of Instagram Rival Snapseed

* Nik makes Snapseed mobile photo editing app

* No terms disclosed

Sept 17 (Reuters) - Google Inc said it bought Instagram rival Nik Software, which makes award-winning photo editing application Snapseed, for an undisclosed amount.

Google and Facebook Inc are locked in a battle for social network followers that has increasingly shifted to mobile applications, such as photo editing.

While not as famous as Instagram, available for free on Apple's mobile devices, Snapseed has won a following for its editing prowess among photographers, despite a $4.99 price tag.

Nik Software says Snapseed has more than 9 million users while Instagram says it has more than 100 million.

"We want to help our users create photos they absolutely love, and in our experience Nik does this better than anyone," Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president, engineering, said on a Google+ post ().

Facebook this year bought Instagram, which made an app for users to add filters and effects to pictures taken on their smartphones, for a cool $1 billion.

"Google's playing chase up in social," BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said. "It's yet another tuck in they have done, trying to boost their Google+ offering."

Snapseed won Apple Inc's "iPad App Of The Year" award in 2011 for its multitouch photo editing interface.

"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," Nik Software said on its Website ().

Google's Gundotra also said that Google+ had hit over 400 million users this week and had just crossed 100 million monthly active users.

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Comments

[shivabeach]

09:48 PM on 09/22/2012

Really getting sick of corporations trying to destroy the competition

So much for the free market

[ewj1]

11:35 AM on 09/22/2012

For people who take serious phone pictures (yes I know it is an oxymoron) snapseed and instagram are not that much a like.

[RhondasSongs]

05:22 AM on 09/22/2012

I like Google. I'm not a professional photographer. I just need to make small changes to some of the photos I take on my phone, things like cropping or maybe adding text. When I need hi-def photos done properly, then I hire a photographer for that.

But I also need a place where I can keep track of things that matter to me. People don't care about G1, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Apple or Microsoft. It's not about ANY brand. It's about making life easier, more streamlined, simple and connected. I think Google will be a useful part of everyday life on and offline when the vastness that is Google today is made more cohesive and understandable to everyday people like me.

[Channa]

12:30 AM on 09/19/2012

I don't get Instagram. I have old photos with sepia tone and I scanned and fixed them. I have several photo apps but this one seems useless. And now there is a rival? Can someone explain the to me because I just don't get it.

[Anonymous Conservative]

03:30 PM on 09/18/2012

Instagram and all things like it are a plague upon us.

[WestLA]

10:29 AM on 09/18/2012

This is a disaster for professional photographers. Snapseed is a joke product. It's the professional Nik Software products like Silver Efex, Viveza, Color Efex that have made them successful. Silver Efex pro is used by virtually every pro landscape shooter from Art Wolfe to Moose Petersen to Elizabeth Carmel etc. Unfortunately, those are niche products to Google and will probably wither and die as Google has no interest in the Professional photographer market.

Just take a look at what Apple did to Final Cut Pro: dumbed it down for the masses and Pro editors fled en masse back to Avid.

A sad day for Nik users.

[JBS]

03:44 PM on 09/18/2012

NIK filters are a very profitable & useful add-on for Photoshop. I think Google has sense enough to understand their value. I've yet to see any indication that Google is profit averse.

Worst case scenario, Google will spin off the NIK filters business to Adobe and they'll eventually become a part of Photoshop CS7/Lightroom5.

[bigshotprof]

09:48 PM on 09/19/2012

Snapseed is just a toy. It's no big deal, but you are dead on about Final Cut.

[charpist5]

09:51 AM on 09/18/2012

I have seen the Google car in our neighborhood several times recently. Every time I see it, I want to shoot out its tires. (No, I don't own a gun....this is kind of a figure of speech....)

[Armand77789]

11:36 PM on 09/17/2012

Google is making choices to keep up in the trend of social communications with G+.

[macihadituptohere]

08:47 PM on 09/17/2012

someone should investigate google and its investors, as they cost 3000 of us illinoisans our jobs for state of chicago fraud, f- you emanuel! beware they are not who they seem to be, they are foreign onwed job killing azzules.

[mistergg69]

08:18 AM on 09/18/2012

Please elaborate.

[brl131psu]

09:27 AM on 09/18/2012

Must be his senile side

[macihadituptohere]

02:15 PM on 09/18/2012

why pretend you do not know emanuels tricks of how he got "jobs" for chicago people, by getting illinois people good workers, engineers for 2o years, fired for chicagoans, and put 3000 on unemployment for chicago scam. fire him!! fire emanuel!! i demand it!

[FredFrederson]

07:05 PM on 09/17/2012

My guess is that Google didn't pay $1Bn for it.

[LinkWorxSeo]

08:11 PM on 09/17/2012

That is probably a safe bet, but only Google knows that one for now other than the company that was bought.

[JBS]

03:47 PM on 09/18/2012

Certainly not for Snapseed alone. But the NIK filters plug-ins for Photoshop & Lightroom would certainly justify a higher price.

[w smith]

07:00 PM on 09/17/2012

Suddenly I feel even sadder for Hipstamatic. First Facebook asks Instagram to the prom, then Google asks Snapseed. Who will be Hipstamatic's Duckie?

[French Toast]

10:17 PM on 09/17/2012

YahhhhooooOOOOooooo

Wow. Now I REALLY feel sorry for it.

[macihadituptohere]

08:48 PM on 09/17/2012

all media here, now, is manipluator evil fraud trying its best to destroy our way of life.

[Just Little Old Me]

05:40 PM on 09/17/2012

I can NOT help wonder if GOOGLE is intentionally trying to monopolize everything so that they will be able to have complete access to ALL computer users accounts (prying, spying, and selling). Right now, they can only "spy" on those computer users that use GOOGLE services. They can NOT see into other peoples computers if the customer avoids using ANY GOOGLE service.

[French Toast]

10:18 PM on 09/17/2012

They're not trying to monopolize everything, merely have a big interest in a lot of mainstream things and on top of possible trends. Only if Amazon and Google merge should we start worrying.

[WestLA]

10:31 AM on 09/18/2012

either increase or decrease your medication. this is sheer stupidity.

[Just Little Old Me]

08:29 AM on 09/19/2012

DON'T tell me.........You work for GOOGLE?

[gadalek]

04:58 PM on 09/17/2012

Oh great, what does the Government aka (Google) NSA, want with this?

[GingerCat]

04:27 PM on 09/17/2012

As a pro photographer, this terrifies me. Nik *also* makes a critical set of photo adjustment tools. That these tools aren't even mentioned in today's coverage is, for me, chilling. :(

[Sean Lancaster]

05:00 PM on 09/17/2012

That was my first thought as well. Those tools are critical to my workflow and they seem to be an afterthought in the reporting.

[WestLA]

10:32 AM on 09/18/2012

We're screwed.

[w smith]

06:58 PM on 09/17/2012

I would assume these tools will be incorporated into Picassa for online photo editing.

[Wagner Goldberg]

09:05 AM on 09/18/2012

one this is for sure, google is not in the business of selling photoshop plugins. they should tell the market where these tools will be placed.

[WestLA]

10:32 AM on 09/18/2012

Exactly. And Picasa is not for Pros.