An overview of the week in deals in the Irish and global technology sector.
Google acquires Meebo for an estimated US$100m
Website toolbar and ad platform Meebo has been acquired by Google for an estimated US$100m. The move could be seen as a key episode in the social wars as Meebo’s technology, which integrates with Twitter and Facebook, could give Google+ some serious new functionality and reach.
Meebo, which began life in 2005 as a chat app, has evolved into a toolbar application that aggregates content from websites and displays ads at the bottom of a publisher’s website.
Its technology allows website publishers to display pop-up messages, integrate social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and offers a slot for advertising.
It also provides instant messaging capabilities, such as AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo! and MSN.
“We are always looking for better ways to help users share content and connect with others across the web, just as they do in real life,” Google said making the announcement.
“With the Meebo team’s expertise in social publisher tools, we believe they will be a great fit with the Google+ team. We look forward to closing the transaction and working with the Meebo team to create more ways for users to engage online.”
Google acquires Quickoffice, kicks off mobile office wars
Google has acquired productivity player Quickoffice in a move that will enable it to add new levels of interoperability into its apps suite. In doing so it may have stolen a march on Microsoft in terms of mobile office solutions for iPad and Android tablets.
Microsoft is understood to be planning to bring its Office applications suite to iOS devices later this year. In recent months, Google added new productivity elements into cloud storage by putting its Docs capabilities into its new Google Drive storage service.
The key word here is interoperability as Quickoffice’s technology makes it possible for users to read and work on Word, Excel and PowerPoint across more than 300m Android and iOS devices around the world.
“Today, consumers, businesses and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyone and on any device,” explained Alan Warren, engineering director, Google, in the official Google blog.
“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,” Warren said.
Citrix eyes up mobile data marketplace with Bytemobile buy
Citrix Systems is to acquire Bytemobile, a privately held provider of data and video-optimisation solutions for mobile network operators, as it moves to gain traction in the mobile telecommunications space.
The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but the deal is expected to close during the third quarter of 2012.
Regarding the acquisition, Citrix said it would give it a strategic foothold in the core infrastructure of more than 130 mobile operators in 60 countries around the world.
The enterprise software giant said it would enhance the broader Citrix strategy of powering mobile workstyles and cloud services.
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