Google has acquired Quickoffice - the company best known for making Microsoft Office files available on Android and iOS.
“Today, consumers, businesses and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyone and on any device. Quickoffice has an established track record of enabling seamless interoperability with popular file formats, and we'll be working on bringing their powerful technology to our Apps product suite,” says Google.
While the details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, Google says Quickoffice users will continue to be supported “while we work on an even more seamless, intuitive and integrated experience”.
Co-founder and CEO of Quickoffice, Alan Masarek, said in an official company blog post: “We are ushering in a new chapter with Google. By combining the magic of Google's intuitive solutions with Quickoffice's powerful products, our shared vision for anytime, anywhere productivity can only grow.
“We worked very hard to build Quickoffice as a user-friendly, seamless and yet powerful way to view, edit, sync and share documents anywhere, anytime. It's been a very humbling experience to see this vision embraced by our users.”
Up the ante
The acquisition ups the pressure on Microsoft to officially bring its Office suite to mobile devices. Microsoft has been widely criticised for dragging its feet on the issue. While an Office app has been rumoured to be in the works for the iPad, it has also been noted that Microsoft may be holding back since running a full version of Office on a tablet may be one of the key selling points for Windows 8.
It is expected that Google has its sights on using the Quickoffice technology to launch more of its own native mobile productivity apps - potentially posing a challenge to Microsoft's dominance in the office documents space.
Microsoft has, however, brushed off the potential threat, and director of communication for Microsoft's Office division, Clint Patterson, says: "Google Apps require compromise and don't meet the productivity needs of most people and businesses. Google's primary focus is advertising, so it's not surprising that they are trying to address the limitations of Google Apps through acquisition.”
Earlier this week, Google also announced the acquisition of cross-platform chat service Meebo for about $100 million - adding to a string of recent acquisitions, including the major $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility deal.
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