In an effort to beef up Googles Apps -- its suite of online office applications -- Google has announced that it will acquire Quickoffice, an outfit that builds mobile applications for viewing and editing Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations.
"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," read a blog post from Alan Warren, an engineering director at Google.
Google already offers a mobile application for use with its online file viewer and editor, Google Docs. But it should be said that Docs is far from perfect.
Today, Quickoffice runs on Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and the Symbian mobile operating system. Google says it will continue to support the application while it works on "an even more seamless, intuitive and integrated experience."
Google is determined to push its online office applications into universities, government organizations, corporations, and small businesses -- and unseat the reigning king of the market: Microsoft. It still has a long way to go to match Microsoft -- which is beginning to move its tools onto web in an effort to maintain its market dominance. Google says that over four million companies now used its Google Apps suite, and it continues to make headway.
"Google Apps is taking more business away from Microsoft than we expected, raising its stature as an enterprise provider," read a recent report from research outfit Gartner. "Microsoft's dominance on-premises prevails but, ultimately, it may face a serious threat to its Office franchise."
The rumor mill has long indicated that Microsoft is building a version of Office for iOS and Android devices, but this has not yet been released. Asked to comment on Google's Quickoffice acquisition, Microsoft went into attack mode.
"Google Apps require compromise and don’t meet the productivity needs of most people and businesses," reads a canned statement from the company. "Google’s primary focus is advertising so it’s not surprising that they are trying to address the limitations of Google Apps through acquisition. Office Mobile provides a great, native experience that enables people to do the things that matter most."
