Google Buys Developer of 'Snapseed', Apple's 2011 iPad App of the Year

According to The Verge, Google is acquiring Nik Software, the developer behind a number of different photography applications. Their biggest app, however, is Snapseed -- an Instagram-like iOS photography app that was named Apple's 2011 iPad App of the Year.

Snapseed has more than 9 million users on the iPhone and iPad, and the company is working on a version for Android devices as well. From Nik's blog post announcing the acquisition:

We are pleased to announce that Google has acquired Nik Software. For nearly 17 years, we’ve been guided by our motto, “photography first”, as we worked to build world class digital image editing tools. 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.

We’re incredibly grateful for all of your support and hope you’ll join us on the next phase of our journey as part of Google.

All our best!

The Nik Software Team

Snapseed is available on the iPhone and iPad as a universal app for $4.99, and on the Mac for $19.99.