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Google Bought Photo App Snapseed, Continues to Take Over the World

Google just bought Nik Software, the guys who created photo editing and filter app Snapseed, for probably much less money than Facebook paid in its dramatic takeover of Instagram not even half a year ago. It’s an obvious move for Larry Page and...

Google just bought Nik Software, the guys who created photo editing and filter app Snapseed, for probably much less money than Facebook paid in its dramatic takeover of Instagram not even half a year ago.

It's an obvious move for Larry Page and company, who are too wily to get left behind in the growing online photo-editing biz. “We want to help our users create photos they absolutely love, and in our experience Nik does this better than anyone,” Google's Vic Gundotra wrote in a Google+ post. Sharing photos is a big part of what the kids are doing these days (something Nokia must have understood when it tried to distract us from the new iPhone with those faked camera pics) and it was high time the Goog got its long tentacles in the game.

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For Google, the buy looks like great value. Calling Snapseed an Instagram clone doesn't do the 17-year-old Nik justice. So much more than basic filters, the software is more along the lines of a mobile-Photoshop for photos, a full-featured editing suite that gives aficionados the ability to precisely adjust color, lighting, saturation, sharpness and texture and boasts 9 million happy users after its debut year. In 2011, it won iPad App of the Year.

Google made no secret that Facebook is on its mind. Gundotra proclaimed that Google+ is no ghost town, dishing out stats like the network having 400 million users, 100 million of which are allegedly active. And unlike Facebook’s Instagram purchase, which seemed more defensive than anything, Google buying a robust, if small, photo-sharing network may actually help it build its social presence.

Fans of Nik will worry about the future of the companies other products, which include plugins and professional photography software, but that's how things go in the land of tech. With this perpetual game of king of the hill, it's only a matter of time before the small firms making cool stuff get gobbled up by the big boys. With $200 billion in cash between them, Google, Microsoft and Apple have a lot of dollars to play with, and that buying power is amplified by the sluggish economy. And having been once burned writing off Mark Zuckerberg, Google this time is taking no chances in its quest to take over, digitize and mine just about everything.

Among the industry stalwarts, Google is the only one that continues to battle across all fronts, releasing viable alternatives against all of its biggest competitors. We already know how pissed Apple is about Android, with Tim Cook made further uncomfortable with the launch of Nexus branded tablets. While Chrome OS has yet to make any real waves, Google Drive (formerly Docs) is surely putting a dent in the relevance of Microsoft's Office Suite, with Steve Ballmer admitting as such in its recent push for online subscriptions. Then there's Facebook, which, despite floundering since going public, is way too entrenched to write off just yet. Even if Google+ isn't as popular as Google makes it seem, the company is expected to eclipse Facebook in the highly lucrative display-ad market by year-end.

And that doesn't even begin the describe the amount of cookie jars Google has its hands in. There's the self-driving cars, the goggles and even Maps (where Apple is struggling to compete). Meanwhile, the company continues to expand its international reach, recently launching search services in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. They’re also getting serious about politics.

Much of this has so far been seen in fairly good light because Google has more or less tried to be a noble company, though the company has sometimes crossed the line.

The company's launch of its fibre optic network in Kansas City has been roundly welcomed, putting to shame an industry long in need of serious disruption. Still, do we really want a single company to provide us our Internet, power our phones and drive our cars? The way things are going, we might not have a choice in the matter.