Google has bought the popular iOS and Android visual translation app Word Lens to "incorporate [the] technology into Google Translate's broad language coverage", according to a statement on Quest Visual's website.
The software uses a smartphone camera to translate signs in real time into the users native language. The technology is remarkable and used by many world travelers. Previously, translation packs were available as in-app purchases, but Quest Visual has made all the packs and the app itself free for a limited time.
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The company did not say how long the app will be available for free, so interested users should download it while it is available. Translations are available between English and Russian, Portuguese, German, Italian, French and Spanish.
Word Lens is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
too bad Google bought it
Why? I'm sure the developers are thrilled to be financially set for life.
get it while it's free - it was well worth the paid price.
I'm gonna guess around $300-400 million
Probably more like $30-$40 million, since this is a pure tech company. You only get into big numbers when you're dealing with an app with a large userbase.
It's a shame Apple didn't buy this; it would've been an easy win. This is valuable tech, innovative enough for Apple to feature in their own commercials, and yet they left it sitting on the table for Google to snap up. I don't understand Apple's acquisition strategy sometimes -- they tend to focus their acquisitions on hardware and manufacturing companies, and the few software companies they buy (aside from NeXT) have not been impressive (looking at you, Chomp). Even though objectively speaking, Apple is falling behind in certain areas as compared with Google's software and services.