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Pretty sure they didn't purchase Nik Software to compete with Instagram and Facebook; I think the iOS app was secondary.

Looking at the history that Nik has, as well as the other products they acquired, it seems like photo editing in general was the target. Something to make Picasa a (hopefully) better product in the long run.

Snapseed is probably a huge part of it (and it's already very much cross-platform). For the other aspects, there are a number of other companies Google might have chosen to acquire instead (Topaz Labs — which would be my choice as a scrappy, lightweight, innovative photo-centric company — Alien Skin, etc.), but they're absent in the mobile space.
I think you're right. Though I wouldn't hedge any money on them improving Picasa, directly anyway. This is more about enriching the Android platform. There are a lot of photographers that walk with a netbook and use that for editing within Lightroom. With a bit of a push, those said photographers could instead move to tablet.

Picasa is like the Google+ of social networks, it had some loyal users who want it to be the next big thing. But that won't happen any time soon. Google will invest in this niché premium market for tablets. With the incoming Nexus Phablet and November's rumoured 10" tablet, they'll try and prove that Android offers more than casual/convenient usage.

I agree.

I know Snapseed is popular, but I think Nik is actually more known for their other products, at least with photographers.

Silver Efex is easily one of the best black and white image processing tools around.

Before touch was a major major interface, Nik Software had developed an editing interface that was surprisingly good on touch devices. You essentially click a point on a photo and set the size of the area for edits to be applied to. The software will figure out regions in the photo similar to what you clicked on and then apply the edits. Creating SnapSeed on iOS really proved that the interface was perfectly suited to touch.

In Nik Software's case, it feels like the acquisition was a good balance between acquiring a team and acquiring patented technologies (http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=pts&hl=en&...).

You can see the interface in action on their website. Load the following link (http://www.niksoftware.com/colorefexpro/usa/index.php?view=h...) and then click on "Working with control points". It's in an embedded flash player so I can't give a direct link.

Is this just a new Google strategy lately to buy up awesome iOS apps and kill them off, death by a thousand aqui-hires? Let's hope they don't kill off Snapseed.app, I will be extremely annoyed if they 'Sparrow' or 'HTML5-crapify' it.
I think it is funny you mention that in light of the recent comments on HN about how html5 isn't the problem but the implementation that Facebook took.
Congrats to Nik Software.

Google -- if you let Nik's "non-sexy" non-mobile plugins for Photoshop/Lightroom, etc die on the vine I will never forgive you. Either commit to them or sell them off to someone who will keep them maintained.

Oh no. It took me a minute to realize why their name sounded familiar. I will be unbelievably pissed if Google kills off their Efex Pro products.
Fingers crossed for this to provide a foothold for a GOOG San Diego campus :)
With android in cameras now, that already have bracketing, together with the increasing focus on camera performance in mobile phones, having HDR expertise would seem to me to be highly valuable as well.
I like google +, I really do, but look at your google + feed, then look at your facebook feed. They are both vying for the time. Its clear as to who is winning that war.
You're only as good as your network. Your social feed is different than mine.

My Google+ feed is way more useful to me. I follow a lot of fellow developers & tech personalities who post long-form content that can't fit on Twitter.

My Facebook feed has too much personal/trivial posts that I value it less. Not to mention the endless political rant.

I actually think that Facebook & Google+ comparison is not right.

The people I follow on Google+ are more similar to the people I follow on Twitter. But Google+ has an advantage because it has no 140-character restriction & displays media (video/picture) better.

17 years! That is some serious dedication, kudos to the team.
I hope the products aren't discountinued. I use silver effex quite often, it's the best back and white converter I've tried yet.
Sadly, given Google's history, all of the extremely useful Nik plugins are now living on borrowed time.

This (acquihire? patent-grab?) is a gut-punch to photographers, if nothing else.

Maybe the pro stuff can be divested to someone who cares.
So Picasa might actually support Nikon RAW files? (They currently sort of work, but look like crap and don't format correctly)
So why didn't they just buy Instagram? They had plenty of opportunity to do it. I hope it's not just because they didn't realize its potential against Facebook and its potential to enhance an already very photographer-friendly Google+, because then Google has a problem spotting the high potential businesses.
Given the price Facebook paid, I think we can be quite sure that there were other interested parties. I can imagine that Google was one of them.
Wow, have you checked out the comments on that page? Virtually zero congratulatory messages, just many, many self-entitled people bemoaning the "downfall" of the company. Good on Nik Software I say, they worked hard for this, let them enjoy it.
Let's just hope that they won't stop developing all of their products!
Mhh, given that G+ hsa an awesome photo community, and the awesomeness of the Nik Tools (love them).. Hopefully they build that stuff into picasa and make it free for all!!